SECTION 8
by BlackBox Inc
Summary: A retired N7 John Shepard teams up with an Alliance officer named Ashley Williams as they try to uncover the reason why five N7s have gone missing during a training exercise in South America.  i don't own Mass Effect or the movie i based this on. R&R :
1. Chapter 1

**SECTION 8**

**PROLOGUE**

PANAMA CANAL, SOUTH AMERICA

The French tried to build a canal here before the Americans. At the height of their effort 500 workers were dying every week from malaria and yellow fever. They couldn't come up with cemetery space fast enough. Not to mention the mortal problem all those crosses would have made.

So they bought shiploads of vinegar. In each barrel they put one body. And then they sold them as medical cadavers all over Europe. And for a while that was their greatest profit.

See this place always had a special way of dealing with both profit… and death.

**CHAPTER ONE**

PANAMA CANAL  
>N7 TRAINING ZONE BRAVO<br>NOVEMBER 1ST 2184  
>1300 HOURS<p>

It was the height of hurricane season. Winds were gusting up to around a hundred miles an hour, the rain came in at you sideways, and no matter where you went; you could not escape the cold.

The sun had long set making the storm all that much more intolerable. It wasn't as if the sun made any difference behind the giant dark clouds of Hurricane Bush, but at least during the day you can see where you are going.

The night just made things worse. Now you would be wet and cold and have no idea what is five feet in front of you.

That was what the six N7 recruits felt in the open door Kodiak shuttle as it made its way through the brewing storm; cold, wet and exhausted.

For the past six months they have underwent the most rigorous training any Alliance military personnel could go through. Finally, this was to be their last test.

If they passed this, they could count themselves among the best operatives the Systems Alliance had to offer. They would be, N7s.

"As some of you may have heard, there is a hurricane forming tonight! Well **N7s**, don't pray on good weather. **N7s** do not wait for a bright, sun shiny day. Oh no. **N7s** are trained to operate in the worst possible conditions and take said conditions, and turn them against their enemy!"

Staff Sergeant David Anderson looked around at the six recruits before him.

Sitting to his immediate left was Corporal Jacqueline Doe, otherwise known as simply Jack, to her colleagues. Although quick to anger and slow to rational thought, Anderson knew that such an asset would smooth over well in the N7s. She wore her light armor with a boonie hat on her head, shielding her shaved haircut from the harsh conditions.

To his right was Specialist Uri Wrex, a behemoth of a man standing over six foot five inches. The native Russian was a silent warrior and wore a simple black do-rag and seemed overall unaffected by the downpour around him. He had three parallel scars that ran from the top of his forehead, down across the right side of his face, and ending in the middle of his neck. Anderson wasn't sure exactly how the Russian had received them but he knew it happened

Then there was Corporal Zaeed Massani, an experienced Australian marine who had nothing but good praises from his superiors. He too bore scars from combat except his combat was not on a battlefield per se and his thin black hair was covered by a red beret. He had ran with a gang back in his hometown of Sydney and received the scar by being shot by his best friend Vido Santiago. Zaeed had nearly died but for some reason managed to survive, pull himself out of his shallow grave, hunt down Vido, and kill him. When he was caught and brought before a judge, Zaeed was offered a deal: join the Alliance military or serve the rest of his life in jail. Zaeed had no love for the Alliance but the simple fact of there being no women in prison gave clues to his decision. After fighting in the Verge for nearly five years, his application for N7 training had gone through and thus, here he was.

Sergeant Jacob Taylor, who was as accurate with a shotgun as anyone else was with an assault rifle, was next. Jacob was the one man of the six recruits that Anderson felt could be a leader. He had all the inner workings of a take charge person and was extremely loyal to those around him. All throughout his carreer, Taylor had made an excellent NCO and was quickly picked up by ONI for his actions on Torfan.

The other two, in Anderson's eyes, were pukes who he would never let pass. To him, they didn't seem to have the right stuff.

The most notable were Privates Alenko and Krios. Alenko had barely survived through the conditions of Anderson's course and Krios was the son of some general high up in the Alliance.

Anderson wasn't exactly sure how Alenko got to be included in N7 training but according to his record he was a biotic. Healthy biotics were a rarity before the L3 implants came around and since his biggest drawback was a series of migraines, Alenko seemed like a perfect candidate. But to Anderson, he wasn't anything near perfect.

Sure Alenko was trying and doing his best but his best was simply not N7 material. Anderson knew that Alenko wasn't going to quit and to make sure he didn't fuck up and get him or someone else killed, Anderson made it his duty to whip the boy into proper N7 condition.

On the other hand, Corporal Krios was only here because his father had pulled some strings to get his allegedly gay son to become the man he wants. Anderson, while he respected General Krios as a man, had no time to play babysitter to the guy's kid. Anderson's standing orders with Krios was to make sure he became a soldier with getting him hurt. How Anderson was going to do that was unknown to him but so far the kid seemed somewhat capable if not entirely worthless.

Anderson nevertheless, continued his rant.

"You each have on rifle, one side arm, and one white phosphorous grenade. This is a live E and E, so please keep those weapons safetied so as to not shoot off your nonexistent dicks!"

The Kodiak shook in turbulence.

"The rally point is a bunker, two clicks away from the drop zone! You will split into teams of two. Each designated area has twenty reactive targets. First team to hit all twenty and reach the rally point, wins!

"If anything goes cache down there, you pop white and radio in. I will be at each area monitoring your progress! If I see anybody drag ass, I swear to god, you will swim the canal!"

The shuttle continued its way towards the drop zone, ready to deploy the six tired and cranky recruits who wanted nothing more to do than to grab a few hours of rack.

PANAMA CANAL  
>N7 TRAINING ZONE BRAVO<br>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184  
>0730 HOURS<p>

SIX HOURS LATER…

Colonel Donald Udina's shuttle flew calmly over the Panamanian jungle keeping a path identical to the canal below.

Every now and then, he would grab his binoculars and gaze out into the storm.

With a sigh he set the binoculars down and turned to the pilot.

"Where's the original pick up point?"

The pilot turned away from the controls.

"About two clicks up the valley. So this was an N7 training team? When were they due?"

Udina sighed once more and tossed his spent cigarette out the open window

"They missed contact six hours ago," Udina replied, exhaling the slow deadly smoke as he kept an all watchful eye on the ground below."

"Well Colonel Udina, that doesn't really mean anything … in a storm like this… No, it wouldn't be any wonder if they were delayed."

The shuttle continued through the now full on hurricane. While hurricanes were normal in this part of the world, a hurricane lasting for three days was uncommon. Well, not exactly uncommon. In the more 'civilized' area of Earth, the weather had calmed down some from the destructive effects of the 21st century. Still, in places such as South America that boasted more third world countries, like Panama, people have not been able to properly upgrade their technology into modern day levels. As a result, most of these places were overpopulated, environmentally cursed, smug filled zones that had the highest rate of criminals anywhere else on the planet.

It just so happened that when the United States evolved into the North American Union with Canada, Mexico and most of the Caribbean countries, they had still owned the Panama Canal. When the Alliance had heard of this from the NAU, they immediately purchased up several hundred acres and set up Fort Mercy. However 99 percent of the land they purchased was covered in the trees of the South American rainforest. It was here that the Alliance had trained their N7s in Jungle Warfare. It was spilt into twelve zones ranging from Alpha to Lima.

Training Zone Bravo was one of these zones.

"I'm not seeing them. I'm coming back around."

The pilot turned the craft towards port but at the last second leveled out.

"Uh… wait a minute… I'm seeing something on the ground. I'm coming over towards your side."

Sure enough, Udina could make out a figure in the jungle below. The figure was running through an opening in the tree line and was barely visible from Udina's altitude. Still, Udina could tell that something wasn't right.

"I'm seeing one… No wait, two? I think he's carrying some one? Is he hurt?"

Sure enough, Udina could make out a form laying across the man's shoulders.

He wasted no time.

"Alright, let's get down there."

However he was interrupted by the sounds of gunfire.

"What is that?"

The man on the ground, fired from the hip, aiming at a currently unknown target.

"Is that live fire?"

Another man, wearing nothing on his torso except for a thermal clip bandolier and a do-rag, charged from the bush and fired back at the man carrying his wounded comrade.

The man carrying his friend returned fire, nailing the other in his shirtless body.

"Jesus Christ, their shooting at each other; get us down there!"

The surviving man turned and began running.

Through the trees and rain, Udina could make out the growing cloud of white phosphorus.

"There, there!" he reported to the pilot who made a direct route towards the smoke.

The shuttle made its decent into the green jungle with the hurricane still blowing overhead.

**A/N: **

**What is good everyone!**

**Yeah so I'm taking a break from my other fic to bring you this one that I have based on a movie I saw over the weekend. If I'm lucky, I will post two chapters every other day so I can give you a chance to bask in the awesomeness that is me!**

**Anywho, if you have any questions, read the next chapter first before bugging me with retarded shit like:**

"**Why is Udina a colonel?"**

"**Where is Tali?"**

"**Where is Shepard?"**

"**What is all this white stuff over my keyboard?"**

"**Why is Wrex's first name Uri? And why is Thane trying to be an N7, etc…"**

**Shit like that pisses me off… and to answer question two, Tali WILL NOT be in this fic. As the summary stated before you got here this is a Shepard /Ashley story minus all the lovey dovey shit… ok maybe a little lovey dovey but common, I'm a Shepley kinda guy so can you blame me?**

**Any other questions will be answered in Chapter Two.**

**BTW I fucking hate Tali…**

**Now before you get all obsessive and litter my inbox with hate mail and death threats, here me out…**

**I fucking hate Tali… not the Quarians because I think Bioware did a bang up job making them up and Shala 'Ran and Kal 'Reeger were beyond awesome.**

**I just plain fucking hate Tali.**

**If you feel like trying to convert me into a Talimancer or if you wish to know my reasons behind such proclamations, I would be happy to debate with you on why I believe that she is a whiny, stubborn, teenager that only 13 year olds go for.**

**:) Epic Face…**

**So to end this author's note on a good swing, I am happy to announce that my Multi-Crossover fic is now in the woodworks and the trailer fic will be up soon.**

**Yes I made a trailer for a Fanfiction… don't hate on awesome.**

**So long brochachos and senoritas and I'll catch you on the flip side.**


	2. Chapter 2

**SECTION 8**

**CHAPTER TWO**

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY: FORT MERCY<br>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184  
>1700 HOURS<p>

Udina watched through the viewing glass as the Alliance surgeons operated on the wound recruit who happened to be PFC Thane Krios. Udina knew these men were the best medical professionals the Alliance had. After all, he had served with the Chief Medical officer, Dr. Jack Harper, during the batarian aggression campaigns throughout the 2170's.

_At least we managed to save two of them…_

He walked, with the aid of a cane thanks to some lucky batarian sniper, through the hallways of Fort Mercy's main complex towards the interrogation cell that held the other survivor, Sergeant Jacob Taylor.

Inside he could already see his top interrogator, Lieutenant Ashley Williams, at work.

"You went out with four other recruits and your sergeant on an exercise last night. You came back a few men light."

Ashley walked blissfully around the table that the Corporal was chained to. The recruit hadn't moved since the MPs had brought him there.

"Four, to be precise."

She walked up and but her lips within inches of Taylor's ear.

"Where are they?"

The recruit remained silent.

Instead he motioned with his head towards a pad of paper sitting on the table. Ashley walked over, retrieved it, and handed it to the corporal.

She watched him write a few words down and hand it to her.

She read the message and scoffed.

"In your dreams pal."

She ripped of the sheet from the pad, crumpled it up, turned and exited the room, running into her superior who watched the whole process go down.

"Lieutenant, tell me you have something."

"Sorry sir. The guy's a mute."

"Williams, if you don't make some progress with this guy soon, people from Arcturus are going to be crawling all over this place like ants."

Udina looked down at the sheet of loose leaf paper in Ashley's hand.

"What did he write?"

Ashley uncurled the paper and read it off.

"I want to talk to an N7, someone off post, I don't trust anyone else."

Udina sighed, "Let me see it."

Ashley relinquished the paper and handed it over to the colonel.

Udina stared at the paper with inquisitive eyes. He was unimpressed with most of it until he saw something scribbled at the bottom of the page.

It was a circle with an eight drawn in the center.

"It's a stall tactic sir, nothing else."

For what seemed like the hundredth time in seven hours, Udina sighed and turned towards the one way mirror that from his angle was the window into the interrogation room.

"Give him what he wants. I know somebody who's perfect."

Ashley was taken aback.

"Sir, I am confident I can handle this."

"I'm not," Udina said bluntly as he turned and walked away from the shocked lieutenant.

PANAMA CITY, PANAMA  
>APARTMENT COMPLEX<br>ROOM 44 THIRD STORY  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>1734 HOURS

The apartment was not something you could expect from a SpecTre agent or a former N7 marine. It was ratty, run down, and almost had a feeling that the walls were caked with dirt.

In fact, the shower that held the apartment's owner was rusting and old and only a thin cloudy curtain shielded the occupant from prying eyes.

The occupant was in the middle of singing Walk the Line by Johnny Cash when the sound of his personal comm ringing entered the mix.

A hand reached out of the shower, bypassing the comm resting on the nearby shelf and gripping a half empty liter of Jack Daniel's classic whiskey.

The occupant opened the curtain fully and took a deep swing from his drink. The warm liquid burned down his throat as he hummed the final versus of the song. His throat now removed of the alcoholic beverage, he continues to sing. Grabbing a towel he exits the sad excuse for a shower and turns the water off.

The man looks at his reflection in the mirror, turning his head from side to side, silently deliberating whether he should shave or not. He is a rather handsome man with a muscular body of that of a track star instead of a body builder. His face is covered with a dark stubble that matches his salt and pepper haircut.

As he finishes the song, he drifts his focus to the comm. The communication device ends its incessant ringing, giving up trying to alert the man to its presence.

The lightly clothed man chuckles and picks it up, counting down with his fingers from five.

Almost as soon as he dropped his last finger the comm began to ring once again.

"Hello, this is Shepard speaking, I can't come to the phone right now but if you leave-"

"John!" yelled the other person on the line, "knock it off. Where have you been? I've been trying to reach you all day!"

"Well hello to you too Councilor Tevos, how are you today? Me? I'm just fucking peachy."

"You didn't answer my question."

Shepard stepped out onto his personal balcony that overlooked the street below. Already people have begun to gather for the festivities that would occur later that night. It seems the constant down pour would not deter the locals from having a good time.

"Well, there's a hurricane blowing down here and everything is shut down."

The caller doesn't seem to buy it.

Down below a few girls call up to him.

"Johnny! Johnny, come on, we're going to the parade!" of them yelled, "I got you that girl's name, its Gabriella!"

"Yeah! Yeah, we'll samba! I want to meet all your friends"

"Are you coming?"

"Yeah, I'll be there later!"

"You better, or I'll come and get you!"

The girls depart. Shepard watches them leave with near predatory eyes. His objective of not having an empty bed tonight was drawing to an end.

"John?"

Shepard turns his attention back to the phone call.

"What?"

"I said; are you drinking again?"

"No, no nothing like that," he responds taking another swig.

"Anytime a red sand dealer admits he is bribed by an agent, we take him off the assignment while we run a check, it's nothing personal."

Shepard nearly laughs.

"A drug lord that I help bust says that he paid me off and you guys believe him and then say it's nothing personal, fuck you," Shepard response, the irritation in his voice as clear as day.

"Hey, hey relax; I'm sure you'll come up clean. You'll be back on the job in a week."

Shepard scoffs, "yeah while everyone is giving me sideways glances wondering if I really am dirty. Look, I'm a SpecTre in red sand country. All we have down here is trust. After what you guys did do you ever expect me-"

The sound of another incoming call echoes in Shepard's ear.

"Hang on I got another call."

"You're not thinking of-"

Shepard interrupts the caller by switching the line. Truthfully, he is glad not to have to talk to Tevos anymore. With his record as an N7 and as a SpecTre, he would think he would have some pull with the council. But no. It seems that as quickly as the council was to get him to hunt down Saren, they are just as quick to try and get him fired.

Well, fired wouldn't be the right word. More like… replaced.

Shepard would be the first to admit that he shouldn't be a SpecTre. He was a renegade compared to most other agents since he basically didn't give a flying fuck what the Council thought or wanted him to do.

For example: the council wanted Shepard to gather a team for the mission. Shepard went solo. The council wanted Shepard to return to the Citadel once they got word that Saren was going to attack. Instead, Shepard went straight to Illos, killed the bastard, and blew up the Reaper, Sovereign, himself. The council wanted Shepard answer for his crime when he sacrificed an entire solar system by blowing up a mass relay evidently killing all the reapers that had gathered, ready to invade the galaxy. Instead, Shepard flipped the bird and punched Councilor Valern right in the face. Ambassador Lawson would never agree but Shepard could tell she was happy at the sight of Valern on the ground unconscious.

The Council of course, did not like someone telling them to go fuck themselves in a formal meeting, nor did they like Shepard punching a Councilor in the face for quote, "being a dick."

But Shepard did not give two shits. If he was going to do his job, it was going to be on his terms and not on anyone else's; especially not some monarchy of a Council.

"Hello, this is Shepard speaking."

"Shepard… Its Colonel Udina… We need you to come to Fort Mercy right away."

The sheer look of surprise and confusion was clear as day on Shepard's face.

"What for?"

"There's been an incident… you're the only one I know who can help."

Not for the first time, Shepard wondered what this galaxy would be like if he just said no to everyone who asked for his help.

But being the guys that he is, he quickly got dressed and head over to the place that trained him how to kill someone with the flick of the wrist.

_Fucking Fort Mercy… I wonder if the food has gotten any better._

**A/N: **

**I think I should explain a few things away real quick I'm sure most if not all of you are** **scratching your heads in confusion.**

**This story IS ABSOLUTELY NOT canonical. I've taken the Mass Effect Universe and… warped it a bit so it could fix to this story.**

**All of the squad mates that I have mentioned are their human versions. I got the idea from a fan art picture of Garrus as a human and wondered what the rest, especially Wrex, would look like as a human. I imagine him to be a colossus of a man and look completely bad ass.**

**As for Shepard's little background info: he is a renegade in the sense that he does things the way he wants to. He is a person who will tell someone straight off if he doesn't like them and doesn't care much about what anyone else thinks of him. As for knocking Valern unconscious? Well, if it was available in the game I guarantee you that everyone would have done it during their first play through. I know I would… that guy is seriously a dick…**

**I had Shepard kill off Saren and ALL of the Reapers just to emulate how bad ass he actually is. By having him do everything alone not only emulates that but it also adds comic relief as well as allowing me to use the other character in his squad.**

**I should also mention that he has no prior contact with Ashley or any of the recruits mentioned in the earlier chapter.**

**Anyways, this author's note has gone on long enough so enjoy the next chapter and remember to please review.**

**Seriously, no one fucking reviewed my last story. If not for my undying, completely heterosexual love for you all, I would have told you all to make like a tree and fuck yourselves.**

**Teehee, I keed, I loves you guys!  
>(no homo- except for the ladies, I'll be a lesbian with you) …<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**SECTION 8**

**CHAPTER THREE**

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>1755 HOURS

Ashley was furious.

She had spent her entire military career climbing the ranks attempting to rid herself of the black cloud that had hung over her family since the First Contact War.

So far she has done just that, albeit without difficulty.

After surviving the attack on Eden Prime and the subsequent battle to liberate the colony from Geth control, Ashley was inducted in the N7 program where she flourished under the training eye of Staff Sergeant Anderson.

The training was rigorous and difficult. But the proudest day of her life came when she received her N7 badge.

_Dad would be proud…_

And now here she was back in the same situation she had thought passed her by: a superior thought she wasn't good enough.

She had initially walked outside to cool her head in the rain and calm the hell down but when she spotted Colonel Udina she just couldn't help herself.

Her sister Abby always said she was impulsive.

"Sir?" Ashley called to her superior as she caught up to him, "this is completely unorthodox, this guy isn't even military."

A pair of headlights appeared at the entrance to the base. The driver flashed a badge and the sentry passed him through.

"He was military. I hadn't seen him in over ten years until I saw him the other night in the parking lot. Trust me… he's military."

The car drew closer before finding a parking spot and coming to a stop.

"He trained on Titan and then down here with me, so he knows the territory."

The two continued to walk along the side of the main complex underneath the open porch that shielded them from the rain.

"Before he left the service I've never seen a man more charismatic. They would say that John Shepard could get into your head faster than you can tie your shoes."

Ashley was naturally skeptical.

"Oh yeah, why'd he leave the military?"

"Let's just say he got a better offer."

Ashley decided to play one last card.

"Sir, if he's not military than it is not official."

"Well then Lieutenant Williams, it's unofficial."

Ashley watched as Shepard exited his truck. As he stopped to let a Humvee pass by, Ashley saw Shepard, not too subtly, scratch his baby maker.

She scoffed, "doesn't get more unofficial than that."

Shepard ran as steady as he could, ignoring the free shower he was receiving from mother nature.

"Hey Donald," Shepard said greeting Udina, "How's it going?"

"I'm pretty much fucked, you?"

"Wet."

Shepard looked down to see a familiar cane.

"How's the knee?"

Udina shrugged him off as they began walking towards the complex entrance, "They were never going to make me a general anyway."

"Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke. So what am I doing here?"

Ashley entered the conversation.

"I was curious about that myself sir. Sir, my name is Second Lieutenant Ashley Williams and I am the provost martial here."

Shepard crossed his arms over his chest, "Williams do I look like a sir to you?"

"Not particularly sir," Ashley said honestly.

"Lieutenant…" Udina said before turning to Shepard, "Williams is the closest thing we have to an in-house investigator here."

Shepard smirked, "And here you are going out of house. Now, how's that make you feel Ash?"

"Hostile and uncooperative, sir," Ashley said ignoring the fact that a man she had just met used a nickname she reserved to close friends and family.

"Fantastic," Shepard said unenthusiastically.

"Shepard," Udina said getting to the point. Ashley watched, disgusted, as Shepard retrieved a small flask and take a swig from it.

"Before this hurricane hit we called in all N7 teams but one: A six man team and their black hat in the bush. We're missing three as well as the sergeant."

Shepard stopped dead in his tracks.

"Anderson? Don't tell me it was Anderson!"

Ashley could see that Shepard was visibly upset, "You know Staff Sergeant Anderson, sir?"

"He was our black hat…"

"That must have been quite an honor, sir."

"That's one way to put it," Shepard said sarcastically.

Ashley found herself again insulted by Shepard's lack of civility towards the military.

"Staff Sergeant Anderson is a professional. He is the face of the modern N7."

"I'm not sure you've noticed," he said walking pass her, "I'm not an N7 anymore."

Udina continued his brief.

"They were due back at 2300 hours yesterday."

"So the problem is that three didn't come back?" Shepard inquired.

"No," began Ashley, "The problem is that one of them is dead, one is riddled with holes, and one won't talk. Now the one that won't talk exchanged live fire with the dead one that the Colonel saw when he arrived-"

"And I'm assuming that's what made him the dead one," Shepard said rather rudely as he returned his focus to Udina.

"Specialist Uri Wrex… Killed right in front of me…" Udina said telling the shortened version.

"Listen Don, if command finds out your using non-military personnel in this, especially me with my colorful background, they'll tear you a new asshole."

"That is why your involvement will remain a secret and anything you uncover will be credited to Williams," Udina stated as if he planned this speech before hand.

"Then let her do it."

"Uh, Sir, that's not a bad idea."

Udina grabbed Shepard by the arm and began to lead him away, "Lieutenant will you excuse us for a moment?" he asked rhetorically. Ashley saluted and walked several meters away, out of hearing range, waiting until she was called upon again.

"With all due respect to Williams, this is way out her league," Udina said to Shepard in a hushed voice.

"This kid we have in interrogation requested an N7, someone he never met. That's you."

"Jesus Don, the guy could've requested a Tantalus Drive Core, doesn't mean you give it to him."

Shepard grew suspicious as he tried to figure out the situation himself.

"I don't get this… any spooks involved here? ONI? Anything like that?"

"Not exactly."

"What's that supposed to mean."

"There were a group of guys down here and they…"

"They what? Common Don, spill it."

Shepard could tell that his old friend was almost afraid to tell him what was going on. As he simply muttered a word he would be killed on the spot.

Ashley watched with barely contained patience as the Colonel and Shepard discussed something she could not hear. However, whatever it was, it had bothered both of them.

Whatever Colonel Udina said, Shepard agreed to be involved on the spot.

The two men joined up with Ashley and entered the entrance hall of Fort Mercy's main complex building. Udina had instructed Williams to assist Shepard in anyway necessary.

When Udina split off to do… whatever colonel's do… Ashley found herself alone with Shepard walking towards her office.

"Permission to speak freely sir?"

"Williams I swear to god, if you call me 'sir' one more time I'm going to scream."

Just before Shepard could open the door that led to her office, Ashley slid in front of him, blocking his path.

"I know who you are. You're a SpecTre being charged with bribery."

"Suspicion of bribery," Shepard corrected, "it's all in the wording really."

"Well wording aside, I'm not comfortable having you involved in this case."

"Okay three things. First, you don't have a choice, second I've never taken a bribe in my life, and third… I'm still a little drunk from earlier today so if I skip over the witty banter and move straight onto coming on to you… I hope you won't take offense."

Ashley was initially shocked by Shepard forthcoming with fact number three but was more astounded with the way he held himself over fact number two.

He had such… conviction in his words. Either he truly believed he was innocent, or he actually was. That or he was just a really good liar.

True she didn't have a choice. It comes with the territory of being in the military.

Ashley ignored Shepard's gaze and proceeded into her office. She grabbed a data pad from her desk and handed it to Shepard.

"Dogtags identify them as Sergeant Jacob Taylor and Private First Class Thane Krios."

"Thane? Who would name their kid Thane?"

"General Kolyat Krios… of the joint Chiefs."

"Yeah I forgot to thank Udina for mentioning that on the phone."

"Krios Jr. will be unconscious for another half hour. The soldier we'll be talking to is Taylor."

"Is he in the interrogation room?"

"Yes, sir."

"Move him."

"Why?"

"Because interrogation rooms tend to suspiciously look like interrogation rooms which make people uncomfortable… Is he cute?"

"Excuse me?" Ashley was judging whether this guy was serious or not.

"Taylor, is he cute?"

"Sir, if you're not going to take this seriously-"

"Is he handsome? Is he self-assured? Does he carry himself a certain way? Does he look you in the eyes when you talk to him or down at the ground? Does he have good bones that suggest good breeding? Does he slouch or sit up? These are important questions that reveal a great deal about a man's character. Now can you get over yourself for two and a half seconds and tell me… is he cute?"

Ashley was silent for a moment, "… yes he's cute."

"Thank you," Shepard said as he handed her back the data pad and made his way for the door, "I'll let you know how it turns out."

"Agent Shepard! If this goes to trial someone needs to testify about what happened in the interrogation. With your 'colorful' background you'd be just about the most impeachable witness in history. Now I may be stuck with you, but you are definitely stuck with me."

Ashley watched as Shepard rubbed the back of his neck, almost as he was deciding if he should let her come or not. This only began to infuriate Ashley more because it made it assume as if he actually had a choice.

"Okay…"

Shepard walked over to a nearby pot of coffee and poured himself a cup. To his relief it was quite fresh.

"At some point I want you to go bad cop on him. The signal will be something like rubbing my nose."

"Not scratching your balls?"

"Look for both. Are there any donuts around here?"

Not for the last time, Ashley felt her face find her palm.

_Tonight is going to a long night… Lord, give me strength…_

**A/N: **

**First of all I should probably let you know I changed a couple things from the last chapter. One such being that Shepard did not kill the reapers but instead the Collectors. I have an idea for a sequel that makes more sense if the Reapers are involved rather than the Collectors.**

**I hope you are all enjoying this so far and yes this is all written down. I'm just milking my time putting them up online because… well, it's fun to watch you guys squirm.**

**Also I might've overacted about saying that I hate Tali. In reality I kind of don't. She is an interesting character with both strengths and flaws. It is her flaws that just get me so irritated I kind of get carried away. Also it might be the fact that everyone seems to be riding her bandwagon. Seriously, there are NO fanfics about Tali before Mass Effect 2 came out. Ever since she became a love interest for Shepard, it seems that everyone just… well, you get the gist of it.**

**Whatever happened to good 'ol fashioned Ashley versus Liara? (or Kaiden vs Liara)**

**Ah the good ol days…**


	4. Chapter 4

**SECTION 8**

**CHAPTER 4**

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>1755 HOURS

"I questioned him for two hours. He never made a sound."

Ashley paused, waiting for Shepard to retrieve a donut from the vending machine across from the mess hall where the MPs have previously moved Sergeant Taylor.

Shepard scoffed, "you try poking him with a stick?"

Ashley nearly chuckled, "sorry, no, I didn't learn sophisticated techniques like that."

The two stopped at the doors to the mess and looked in on Taylor. According to the MPs he hadn't asked where he was going nor did he make any sort of movements when he had sat down.

"I bet I can get him talking in under three minutes."

Shepard looked over at Ashley with child-like eyes, "10 creds says I can do it. And that's without telling him I'm an N7."

Ashley stared into Shepard's baby blue eyes for a moment before setting her stopwatch, "go."

The two entered the mess simultaneously. Taylor hadn't even looked up to greet them.

"Sergeant Taylor, good evening. I'm John Shepard. I believe you have already met the vivacious Lieutenant Williams." Ashley responded with a unenthusiastic grin.

Shepard sat down across from Taylor who still hadn't taken his eyes off the table; as if the lines in the wood held all the answers.

"I understand that you had a rough time out there, and that you're not talking. I'm sure you just want to get some sleep and some food. Did they feed you yet?"

Taylor remained unresponsive.

Shepard stared at the young N7 for a moment before sliding his donut over to Taylor.

Taylor simply continued to stare blankly, his gaze drifting ever so slightly towards the donut.

"Go on. You can still eat and not talk to someone, my parents did it for years."

Shepard must have hit a soft spot because Taylor grabbed the donut with primal vigor and munched down on it like a lion eating a gazelle.

Shepard smiled, "You want another one? Ah, maybe later."

Shepard stood up from the table and leaned against the one behind him.

"Jake, I'm going to be straight up with you. I don't know why you did what you did out there or if it was in self-defense and frankly I don't care."

Ashley looked over at Shepard with inquisitive eyes.

"Thing is, I made an agreement with a friend; to talk to you until your transport showed up. So…"

Shepard laid down on the table and faced himself towards Taylor who continued to eat his donut.

"… You like Skyball?"

Taylor said nothing. He just continued to eat.

"Man, I tell you what. I could talk Skyball all day: point per game, assists… I got statistics in brain. I don't know how I remember them, it's freaky."

Shepard sat up.

"You want to talk about Skyball?"

Taylor, again, remained unresponsive.

"Come one Jake, we got to talk about something. We're going to be here another six hours. What do you like?"

Taylor's head rose to meet Shepard.

"Sir, I don't like Skyball," he said uttering his first words since arriving on base.

Shepard shot a look over to Ashley who sighed and shut off her timer.

"Why not?"

"I believe the game of Skyball to be too slow."

"Too slow? Too slow? I-It's a game of anticipation. That's the beauty."

Taylor shrugged, "well sir, I just don't like it. Sorry I don't have an adequate explanation."

"Well, that's alright. I'm not going to knee cap you or anything."

Taylor got to business, "sir, I requested a fellow N7."

Shepard set his coffee down and rolled up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo on his bicep.

It had the standard N7 painted on the forehead of a bare snarling skull with the words '_Non lasciare mai un uomo dietro'_ etched underneath it. Behind it were two crisscrossing rifles.

Ashley recognized the words were Italian but unfortunately her translator worked only for her ear, not her eyes.

She decided to log that for later and ask Shepard some other time.

"Sir, I apologize," Taylor added upon seeing Shepard's brand, "I just… uh-"

"You just thought that I looked like a scumbag, I know. It turns a lot of people off."

Ashley suddenly, for some reason, got a good look at Shepard. Before she had seen a guy who was caught getting bribed and shrugged him off as a dirt bag.

But now that he himself had called it out, she began to notice his actual features. Surprisingly she began to find herself more and more fascinated.

Ashley shook her head. Here she was eye fucking the man who is doing her job and better than her to add. The last thing she needed right now was for things to get complicated.

Shepard continued, "You know, I was here, about ten years ago, right under Staff Sergeant Anderson. Back then he had a wicked looking blade... he still got that?"

Taylor nodded, "hand carved, yes sir."

"The reason I remember is because he used me as his knife dummy. He ever do that to you guys?"

Taylor found himself smirking, "oh yeah."

Shepard saw the confusion in Ashley's face.

"What Anderson used to say is that he could slice a man from stem to sternum… your stem being the tip of a guy's dic-"

"I got that," Ashley quickly interrupted.

"Anyway, when you were his knife dummy, he would ram this pipe into your balls all day."

Shepard laughed, "Man that was a **long** day."

Shepard took another sip of his coffee.

"Oh, Jake, by the way, I promised I would ask where Anderson and your- other three teammates were and uh… can they be found."

Taylor lowered his head, "there's no need…"

Shepard's eyes suddenly had that predatory look in them.

"They're dead aren't they?"

Taylor simply nodded.

"You kill them?"

Taylor exchanged a glance with Shepard before resuming his staring contest with the table.

Shepard leaned back, sighed, and rubbed his nose.

It took Ashley around a second or two to pick up on it and rushed to Taylor's side, getting right in his face.

"Look, we have enough on you to deep-fry your ass!"

Taylor remained silent.

"Back to the silent treatment huh? Fine by me, I'm just going to have to haul your ass out of here! Let's see what a few MPs can get out of you once **they** take the gloves off!"

Shepard stood up, waving his hands.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up, time out!" Shepard said making the letter T with his hands.

"Look, Jake, this is what you call, good cop-bad cop."

Ashley looked up at Shepard with the expression of shock clear across her face.

"She shouts at you, I jump to your defense, you're grateful, this establishes a bond of trust. I ain't going to play games with you."

Shepard turned towards his coffee and picked it up.

_That two timing bastard!_

"Let's say we take a break, ok? I'll get you another donut and then we'll see if you want to talk more."

Shepard turned from Taylor and headed out of the mess hall with Ashley hot on his heels.

Once they exited the mess Shepard turned to Ashley.

"Deep-fry-your-ass?" Shepard said giggling like a school boy.

"You set me up!"

"You owe me ten credits by the way."

"You could have told me your plan."

"Come one, everyone knows good cop-bad cop. I was hoping that by admitting it I could gain-"

Shepard was interrupted by the sound of Colonel Udina approaching.

"Do you think he did it?"

"No sir," answered Ashley.

"Yes…" Shepard stated plainly.

"What about the rest of my people?"

Shepard shook his head. The message was clear.

Udina slumped up against the way and let out a breath of frustration and anxiety.

"Well, in five and a half hours this will be out of our hands. I'm going to have a lot to answer for. I would appreciate it if you could find me some answers," the colonel said with hunched shoulders as he turned and walked away.

Five minutes later, Shepard and Ashley found themselves in front of Taylor again.

"Why did you ask for an N7 sergeant?"

Taylor combed his pale hand through his dark slick hair, "I'm not telling you what happened."

"Alright," said Shepard as he slip a cup of joe towards Taylor, "tell us about the other guys. Tell us about the course. Tell us about Staff Sergeant Anderson. Is he still the same hard-ass?"

Taylor's mind flashed back five hours before the exercise began.

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY- TRAINING ZONE FOXTROT  
>NOVEMBER 1ST 2184<br>1215 HOURS

Staff Sergeant David Anderson patrolled in front of the twelve recruits before him. Behind him the sun was beginning to rise although with the approaching hurricane, all one could see was its dim light seeping through the cracks of the dark grey clouds above.

"I do not care that you are triple volunteers. I do not care that you think that you are hard. And I especially don't give a rat's ass what four star general's dick you suck to get the privilege of standing before me today!

Anderson planted himself before all twelve.

"Those of you who are unworthy, will not remain. Is that understood? Give me a Hoorah Sergeant."

"Hoorah Sergeant!" responded all twelve simultaneously.

"Those that I find lacking will quit. Those of you who refuse to quit, will have a training accident. This base suffers three training accidents a year; unfortunate accidents that I will not hesitate to repeat, if you cross me. Is that understood? Can I get a Hoorah sergeant?"

"Hoorah Sergeant!"

Anderson stepped up to a dark skinned recruit with a short buzz down haircut. He, like all the recruits around him, wore his jungle camo uniform.

"And what is your name dick weed?"

"Sergeant, Alenko, sergeant."

"Alenko, surrender your sidearm for inspection," Anderson said with his hand out.

Alenko quickly retrieved his pistol and handed it to Anderson.

Just before the pistol touched Anderson's grip, Anderson pulled his hand away.

"What the fuck are you doing? Have you lost your fucking mind?"

"Sergeant you ordered me to relinquish-"

"Are you talking? Did you speak to me? Who the fuck told you to speak?"

Alenko placed his sidearm back in the holster.

"An N7 never relinquishes his weapon! If George motherfucking Patton rises from his holy grave and asks you to surrender your weapon, you do not surrender your weapon! Can I get a Hoorah sergeant?"

The other eleven recruits sounded off.

"Now son, some people in this 'verse will kill you for no reason other than something passing through their minds. I come from Biloxi, Mississippi where vanilla motherfuckers like that," he said pointing to a nearby recruit with a pale complexion, "would hang black folks from trees on whim! Now does that sound like a place where you would want to grow up?"

"Sergeant, no, sergeant!"

Anderson grabbed Alenko by the neck, "are you implying something negative about the great state of Mississippi?"

"_Right from the beginning Anderson had a chip for this guys named Alenko_," Taylor narrated, "_By the time we did Green Hell it was getting nuts_."

Green Hell, an exercise that was located in Zone Foxtrot, was a 20 day march in the Darien and 40 clicks a day with an eighty pound pack on your back. The course was called 'Jungle Leader' and was designed to teach recruits how to think when they're exhausted.

Ask any veteran of Jungle Leader and they'd say the same thing: "Anderson knew just how to make you exhausted."

At nights, the recruits would practice escape and evasion manuveres with live rounds snapping by their heads. As well as traversing swamps that were infested with bugs and snakes. On some nights the trainers would do mock POW stuff and deny the recruits any comfort whatsoever, especially sleep.

"_We humped over the Cordillera three times; all the way to the Columbian border and back_," Taylor continued to narrate, "_Some of that stuff is steep as hell and the rain wouldn't let up for days at a time_."

Taylor began to remember a certain rock face that the recruits had to climb up with their packs fastened to their backs.

"_Those packs would get heavy in the rain_. _I mean no one hated anything more than we hated those damn packs_."

"_There was this one escarpment, it couldn't have been more than 50 feet high, but god damn it was slippery_."

Anderson stood on the very edge of the rock face, staring down at Alenko who, although he reached the top, could not get himself fully over.

"Mr. Alenko, can you tell me the muzzle velocity of an M8 Avenger?"

"Y-yeah! 1100, sergeant!" Alenko managed to gasp out as he struggled to climb.

"Eleven hundred what?"

"…Meters p-per s-s-second sergeant!"

"Take 40 percent of that and times it by the exact number of animals Moses took on the ark."

All that was heard was the constant down pour of the rain and Alenko's grunting as he continued to struggle.

"Come on… Come on Mr. Alenko. Are you tired? Too tired to think?"

Finally one of the recruits, Jack, had enough, "Zero you fuck, Moses wasn't on the ark."

Anderson got down on one knee and got eye level with Alenko.

"Have you lost it?"

"N-No sergeant!"

"Then tell me this; what is your weapon?"

The Staff Sergeant was answered by the rain and more grunting.

"Your weapon, Alenko. What is your weapon? What keeps you alive and makes the other guy dead?"

Again, the same response.

"It's your brain Mr. Alenko; your noggin, your smarts, your grey matter, your poise under fire. It's your wits, when all about you are losing theirs."

"I think you came to this party unarmed Mr. Alenko… Take off your pack."

Alenko began to take his pack off. Anderson outreached his hand.

"Here I'll help you."

Slowly but surely, Alenko took off his pack and handed it to Anderson with throbbing arms.

Anderson proceeded to take said pack, and toss it to the bottom of the cliff.

"You cannot complete this course without you pack Mr. Alenko… I suggest you go get it. Even if it takes forty days and forty nights."

"_That business bothered a lot of the guys," _Taylor said as he continued to narrate_, "even Wrex who was this Russian guy that made you feel uncomfortable to sleep around_."

"_That's what we were coming back from yesterday afternoon. We'd figured we get a shower and a hot meal. I mean we were the walking dead. We were about as ragged out as a man could get_."

Anderson took a look at the twelve recruits that had just jumped off the transport that brought them back to Fort Mercy from Training Zone Foxtrot. The rain from earlier that day had not slowed up but instead intensified.

"What we have here, is an opportunity. A unique opportunity for a spectacular training event. Wrex, Jack, Massani, Taylor, Krios, drop your packs, weapons only. Muster at the east LZ in two minutes."

Alenko scoffed, "Jesus Christ…"

"What was that Mr. Alenko?"

Alenko hung his head.

"Oh, you think a little rain is inappropriate for combat. You think the game should be called on account of weather? Or were you concerned for their safety?"

"Sergeant…" Anderson's eyes went wide. It was a non-verbal warning for Alenko to keep his mouth shut.

"No, Staff Sergeant."

"Good! Then you can join them!"

With that, Anderson fixed the black beret on top of his head and walked away.

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>1823 HOURS

Shepard had his hand to his chin as he listened intently to Taylor's story. Ashley set down the data pad she had been typing on as she took down word for word what Taylor had said.

"And those were the guys that were with you?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah, and I'm not saying anything more."

Shepard and Ashley got up to leave before Shepard suddenly turned around.

"Hey Jake, do you smoke?"

"Is this one of those interrogation tricks where you won't offer me a cigarette unless I talk?"

Shepard's face was blank, unreadable, a complete wall to his inner thoughts.

"No, I just forgot mine in my car. I was hoping you had some."

Taylor chuckled and retrieved a cigarette from the pack in his pocket.

"Ah, my brand. My lucky day," Shepard said as he leaned in to allow Taylor to spark his cancer stick.

Shepard exhaled the thin grey smoke, "you know, you seem like a good guy Jake. You carried a wounded Krios to the pickup, defending both you and him. I just don't understand… What did you do to make Wrex want to kill you?"

Taylor was silent for a moment, "I'm not saying anything else."

Shepard took a final hit from his cigarette, nodded, and left Taylor to his thoughts.

An MP suddenly ran up to Shepard and Ashley.

"Sirs," he said with a salute that made Shepard scoff.

"What can we help you with Private?" asked Ashley.

"PFC Krios is awake."

With that said, Ashley and Shepard went to the nearest transport that would take them to the other side of the complex where the medical facility was located.

For Shepard this was business as usual and all he wanted was to get back to that ratty apartment he called home.

For Ashley, something wasn't sitting right. To her something felt off about this whole situation.

She wasn't sure what it was…

… but she was determined to find out.

A/N:

Chapter four is down.  
>Any questions or what not, lay 'em on me and I'll get back to ASAP<br>Enjoy the next chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**SECTION 8**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY EN ROUTE TO MEDICAL WING  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>1830 HOURS

The transport that held both Ashley and Shepard was completely silent save for the soft rumbling of the engine and the patter of the ran on the exterior. Ashley kept her eyes on the road in front of her and Shepard stared out the window with the same expressionless look on his face.

Ashley turned to her 'partner' and broke the silence.

"What I don't understand is why he requested an N7?"

"Man's in trouble," he responded his eyes not leaving the window, "Never leave a man behind."

"So?"

"N7 code; Never leave a man behind."

Ashley remembered his tattoo, "Is that what it says on your arm?"

Shepard nodded.

"What's the matter?" she asked noticing Shepard's unusual silence.

"Nothing, this place just gives me the willies you know."

"Not the happiest of memories huh?"

"Nope," Shepard said plainly.

Finally their transport arrived at the two headed into the Medical Wing of Fort Mercy.

"Remember this is a son of a general so use kid gloves," Ashley said making sure that Shepard would act at least somewhat appropriate for once.

"I got it."

"I mean it, kid gloves!"

"I got it," Shepard said repeating himself.

Upon walking in, Shepard demeanor instantly changed once he was greeted by a familiar face.

"John Shepard is that you?" asked one of the doctors with a smile on their face.

"Jack Harper," Shepard said smiling himself as he shook his old friend's hand, "as I live and breathe. How are you buddy?"

"I'm good, I'm good, shitty weather we're having right?"

"That's Panama for you."

Shepard turned to Ashley, "Ashley Williams, this is Jack Harper."

"I know," She replied rather impatiently, "I'm guessing you two trained together?"

"Guilty as charged Ashy-bird," Harper said as he returned to Shepard, "So what are you doing here? You're not getting all nostalgic on me?"

"I can't tell you but-"

"I'm running this joint," Harper said interrupting Shepard.

"Naw," Shepard said disbelieving but without a hint of disdain.

"Yeah, I'm Chief Medical officer. Yeah, we're busy as hell too, packing up supplies for reassignment to Arcturus."

Finally Ashley had enough, "Are we going to see Krios now, or are you two going to continue to backslap each other for a few more minutes?"

Shepards and Harper said their goodbyes with the promises of hooking up later for drinks. Much to Ashley's relief Shepard began following her to Krios' room.

However her relief soon turned into annoyance.

"Ashy-bird," Shepard said repeating Harper in a sing-song voice, "Now if I was a smart man, which I'm not, I could come to the conclusion that… you two saw each other socially."

Ashley paid him no mind and turned her focus to the bandaged up kid that laid before her.

"Private Krios, hello I am Lieutenant Ashley Williams and this is John Shepard."

Krios' head perked up a glanced over to Ashley and Shepard who had found himself a seat that was reserved for guests.

"I've seen you around the base before," he said pointing to Ashley, "But you… are you… are you in the N7s, or…"

"Navy, yeah we're doing a check on the weather, making sure there's no danger to the Florida coast line."

"No I've seen you before. On the extranet. You're that SpecTre agent with friends in low places."

"Oh the price of fame," Shepard said rather sarcastically.

"We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions for us," asked Ashley getting down to business.

"Oh… oh…" Krios said as he held his head, "I feel fatigued, all drugged up."

"Our collective hearts weep," said Shepard rudely which prompted a short but deadly (to some) glare from Ashley.

"We just want to know what happened out there," Ashley continued as she shifted her gaze away from an annoyed looking Shepard.

"You want to know what happened?" asked Krios, "Well there are degrees of truth Lieutenant. There are always degrees of truth. Things are not what they seem-"

"That's it," Shepard interrupted, standing from his chair, "it is too late and I'm too tired to give a shit about some piss-ant private's version of intrigue."

Just before he reached the door he turned back to Krios.

"You're trying to hard Thane. You know how I can tell? Because you're sweating and you're sweating because you don't know how much Taylor has told us already."

Shepard titled the brim of an imaginary hat and walked away. Ashley gave one last look at Krios before following him. The aggressive pounding of her boots clearly betraying how she felt Shepard handled the situation.

She caught up to him just as Shepard reached the entrance doors. She saw him spark up a cigarette from his pack and exhale the smoke as it drifted into the damp air.

"Those were kid gloves?" she asked rhetorically.

Unfortunately Shepard had never bothered to learn what the word rhetorically meant. Seriously he didn't have a clue what it meant.

"I thought I did pretty well up until the end there."

"You mean when you yelled at him and walked out?"

"That would be the end yeah," Shepard answered without the slightest shred of remorse as he took yet another drag.

"We'll play it differently when we go back," he added.

"Go back? We just blew it!"

She finally noticed the cancer stick hanging from his mouth.

"I thought you didn't have any cigarettes?"

"I lied. Will you just wait? Just wait."

"For what?"

She was answered by a nurse coming up to them.

"Excuse me, the patient is asking for you."

Shepard replied with a childish grin in Ashley's direction as he tossed away the butt of his cigarette.

"Shall we?"

Once again Shepard and Ashley found themselves in front of Krios, taking up the same positions as before.

"My father," Krios began, "is what you would call a very powerful man."

"So we've heard," said Shepard as he displayed his unenthusiasm once again.

"Oh come on you know… all my life… all my life he's made me fell weak and insignificant. I think that's the reason I joined the military in the first place."

"And how's that working out for you," asked Shepard.

"Oh it's horrible, I fucking hate the military."

Ashley could see where this was going, "you're terrified of him, aren't you?"

"Terrified?" Krios asked laughing, "No, no we just hate each other."

Finally Krios calmed himself down as he began to reminisce about his relationship with his father.

"Normally… he wouldn't lift a finger to do anything for me. But the one thing he can't stand is a scandal and uh, you know, a joint chief with a homosexual son in the military definitely counts as a scandal."

Shepard scoffed, "I guess that blows don't ask, don't tell out of the water. So is this family history lesson coming to a point?"

"Well about four months ago I began a relationship with a local named Mouse and uh… my father decided to intercede. Colonel Udina made the whole thing quiet and, according to my father, had me transferred into Anderson's training course. We all know Anderson just hated that."

Krios was silent for a minute, deep in thought.

He shook his head and began to speak again, "Anyway, he made sure that everyone knew what I was."

"He couldn't kick you out," summarized Ashley, "so he tried to make you quit on your own?"

"Oh he wanted more than that…"

"More intrigue Thane?" asked Shepard with more sarcasm.

Thane simply smiled at the retired N7.

"Yes."

PANAMA CANAL  
>N7 TRAINING ZONE BRAVO<br>NOVEMBER 1ST 2184  
>1301 HOURS<p>

"-And I swear to God, you will swim the canal," Anderson said finishing his monologue.

Krios found himself staring at his black hat for a moment in utter hatred. To him, he wondered what in god's name would create such a scornful creature.

Anderson continued, "The teams are as follows: Taylor and Wrex, Alenko and Jack, Krios aaaand… Massani! You have one minute before we touch down, get you're shit together!"

"_That's when he did it_…"

Krios watched as Anderson grinned an evil smirk, make a gun out of his pointer finger and thumb, point it at Krios, and pull an imaginary trigger.

"_He was threatening my life… It was clear as day_."

"_Did anyone else hear or see Anderson do this_?" asked Ashley.

"_Of course not, we were on a shuttle, no one could hear anything and with the rain slapping you in the face, everyone just had their heads down_."

"_I'm not sure if you're familiar with investigative work_," spoke Shepard, "_but there's a thing called motive… and you just gave yourself one_."

"_Y-You wanted to know what happened and I-I'm telling you the truth_."

"_What happened to degrees_," added Shepard.

Krios looked Shepard in the eyes, "_I didn't kill him_."

"_Then who did_?" asked Ashley as she sense that they were about to have all the answers.

Krios continued to retell his side of the story.

"_I did want to tell someone but Wrex would have just laughed, Jack wouldn't have given a shit, and I guess neither would Taylor or Alenko. Of course Anderson had me paired with Zaeed who treated me like a leaper since the day I met him_."

"Thirty seconds to the LZ," Anderson reported, "Click in, on the skids, lose the communicators."

The six recruits hooked themselves up to their insertion cables that will allow them to rope down to the ground from the hovering shuttle.

"Not every time," continued Anderson, "will we be entering friendly airspace. Check that, make that all the time. This means that we need to stay away from hostile fire. You will be simulating a deployment into hostile territory."

The shuttle grew closer and closer to the LZ.

"_I started to get it in my head that Anderson paid Zaeed; that he was supposed to give me my training accident_."

About ten seconds from the LZ, each recruit jumped from the shelter of the shuttle and began to hang suspended in the air by their cables. Once the Shuttle did arrive, it passed low enough for the recruits to hit solid ground before taking off once again.

Krios made sure his gear was secure before following Zaeed into the bush.

"_All I could think was that Anderson was out here somewhere in this godforsaken swamp… Making us stalk around in this hurricane… just waiting…_"

The first drone appeared off to Krios' left. Before the young recruit had a chance to fire, Zaeed arrived and blew it to shreds with a bust from his Vindicator. He promptly slapped Thane's Shoulder.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?"

"This is fucking ridiculous!" answered Thane.

"Shut the fuck up and bloody shoot something!" replied Zaeed as he targeted another drone.

The two proceeded through their part of the course with Zaeed destroying most of the drones.

"_I was terrified… but I wasn't about to the victim of some discriminative hate crime_."

Thane paused for a moment.

"_I… maybe I shouldn't say I was scared even though I was terrified… enough to maybe… maybe murder somebody_."

"_But you didn't_," said Shepard.

Thane looked up to Shepard.

The two recruits continued, fighting both the drones and the ever increasingly shitty weather, until they heard and saw an explosion from a white phosphorus grenade.

"Come on!" yelled Zaeed.

The two made a B-line for the smoke. Just before they arrived, a drone began to open up on them, causing both recruits to dive for the ground. Prone, they began to crawl their way towards the smoke.

What they saw rendered them both speechless.

On the ground before them, in a small clearing no wider than ten feet in circumference, laid Anderson…

… with a giant hole in his back.

His back was no longer there. Instead, it was now a carved out piece of missing flash that was still smoldering from the close proximity to the phosphorus grenade.

Zaeed slowly walked over to the body, still not uttering a word, which was characteristically unlike him. Thane had assumed to hear some sort of profanity coming from the Australian man's mouth.

"Is that Anderson?" asked Thane.

Zaeed made no motion to indicate he was aware that Thane was speaking. That or he just did and didn't care.

"Whose area is this?" asked Thane once again to his silent partner.

Jack suddenly emerged from the bush to see a shocked Zaeed kneeling over a smoldering Anderson.

She slowly walked over to the body, her mind grasping the situation.

"Anderson..."

She looked up at Zaeed.

"What did you do?" she asked rather amusingly.

"We found him like this," answered Zaeed.

"Oh…you kill him?"

Zaeed's patience wore out, "We found him like this!"

Jack simply smiled.

"Where's Kaiden?"

Jack's smile disappeared.

"I asked: where's Alenko?"

"I don't fucking know man," She said looking up from the body.

"You don't know?"

"We got separated."

"Yeah?" Zaeed asked unbelieving, "before or after the explosion?"

Jack made no move to respond.

"Before or after the explosion?" Zaeed asked repeating himself.

Jack shrugged, "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" asked, or rather yelled, Thane.

"I mean that I don't know, we got separated, so shut-the-fuck-up!"

Zaeed quieted them both, "Everyone shut up. This exercise is bloody over. Everyone get out of here."

Zaeed leaned over Anderson's body and pulled up a damaged radio. Damaged isn't the right word… more like melted.

"Radio's had it…"

"Are we just going to leave him like this?" asked Jack.

"We have to," responded Zaeed, "The MPs will secure this site until the CID gets here."

"What about Kaiden?" asked Thane.

"I'm not waiting for Alenko. You can if you want but I'm getting the hell out of 'ere."

Jack smiled to Thane before following Zaeed's plan to get out of dodge. After taking one last look at Anderson's fried corpse, which was still smoking, he took off towards Zaeed and Jack.

PANAMA CANAL  
>N7 TRAINING ZONE BRAVO<br>RALLY POINT X-RAY  
>NOVEMBER 1ST 2184<br>1345 HOURS

After a grueling 10 minute hike, the three recruits finally arrived at the rally point. What Anderson had described as a bunker was simply a metal shack about 25 feet long by 15 feet wide and surrounded by sandbag barriers.

Inside, Taylor and Wrex had already arrived and had started up a small fire. Thankfully there were windows, which were more like spaces in the shitty architecture, where the smoke could escape.

The two recruits that had arrived previously turned to the new arrivals.

"Where have you been?" asked Taylor.

"Is everyone alright? Where Kaiden?" asked Wrex

The three said nothing as they each took up a small area and unloaded their gear.

Finally Zaeed turned around, "Anderson's dead."

His two other comrades both had the look of shock and confusion across their faces.

"He's what?" asked Taylor with his jaw firmly on the floor.

"He's dead."

"What happened?" Wrex inquired.

"He took a phosphorus grenade to the back," filled in Jack.

"Are you kidding me?" exclaimed Taylor who had yet attempted to remove his jaw from the dirt.

"Nope," Jack replied as calm as she was when she discovered Anderson.

"He's out there smoldering right now," added Thane as he dropped his pack.

"How long have you guys been here?" asked Zaeed.

"About… ten minutes…" replied Wrex.

"We finished the course and right before we got here we heard the explosion," defended Taylor.

"Is that right?" said Jack unbelieving.

Wrex pushed her back, "that's right, Jack"

Jack replied with a push of her own and a few choice words to add. It took both Zaeed and Taylor to restrain Jack.

"Everyone just calm the hell down!" ordered Taylor, "where the hell is Kaiden?"

"We got separated, okay?" said Jack with her arms out in defense.

"Yeah right, thing is she can't remember whether it was before or after the explosion," reminded Thane with emphasis on before and after.

"It was before," replied Jack.

"Oh so now it was before?" inquired Thane.

"Yeah it was, fuck you twinkle toes."

"Does anyone know the shit we are in? How fucked we all are?"

Taylor quickly silenced Thane. Inside, Taylor was freaking out just as bad but right now he needed to be the voice of reason and calm everyone down before the inside of the bunker became a reenactment of the Spanish Inquisition.

"Let me see your grenade jack," Taylor suggested. Wrex voiced his agreement.

"Fine… assholes," Jack replied as she shuffled through her pack.

She soon pulled out her grenade.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you precious; you're not getting a strip search tonight."

Jack placed the grenade back.

"The man is fucking dead alright, so what the fuck happened?" she asked the entire room.

She was answered by the sound of Alenko walking into the bunker. The rain from outside was literally pouring down his face.

"Damn… it must be at least a level three out there."

The entire room was encased in silence. Finally Taylor spoke up.

"Kaiden… are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine."

"You got you're grenade?"

Kaiden sat down.

"No… I used it."

Taylor shared a suspicious glance with everyone before asking, "You do know Anderson is dead?"

"Of course I do."

Kaiden wiped the rain water and sweat from his black face.

"I killed him."

**A/N:  
>Insert drum roll here…<br>Ha, well with this chapter down I'd say we are about a third of the way through.  
>Thanks for all those that have either favorite this story or have not been last and also have reviewed lol.<strong>

**Enjoy the next chapter…**


	6. Chapter 6

**SECTION 8**

_I should start off by saying that my edit to have Shepard kill the collectors instead of the Reapers didn't go though. So, if you have read this story and are confused how one man could kill off your number one enemy in the game, go back and plug in COLLECTORS for REAPERS. Trust me; it'll make a lot more sense later on._

**CHAPTER SIX**

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY MEDICAL WING  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>1900 HOURS

Shepard and Ashley both stared at the young private expectantly. Moments ago he had just informed them that Alenko had killed Staff Sergeant Anderson.

"He admitted it?" asked Ashley.

"Well he thought we'd all be on board," Thane informed the two investigators as he shifted his weight on the bed, "he was that type of guy."

"What happened next Thane?" asked Shepard impatiently.

"Well Wrex went after him so we had to pull him back and calm him down. We decided that we would turn Kaiden in and so then everybody agreed…"

PANAMA CANAL  
>N7 TRAINING ZONE BRAVO<br>RALLY POINT X-RAY  
>NOVEMBER 1ST 2184<br>1425 HOURS

After managing to calm Wrex down and with the entire team on board for turning Kaiden over to the authorities, the group decided to grab some much needed rack time.

After only half an hour later, Thane found himself being woken up.

"Krios?" called a voice from the dark.

Thane's eyes flickered into consciousness for a moment as he tried to bring himself back to reality.

"Krios, wake up man."

Thane clicked on his red beamed flashlight and saw Kaiden calling to him in a hushed voice.

"Kaiden? What do you want?"

Kaiden shifted in his bonds as he shimmied his way over to Thane.

"Don't tell me you ain't glad Anderson is dead," he stated keeping his head on a swivel to make sure he was betrayed by prying ears, "now we got an opportunity here."

Thane was understandably confused, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"What I'm talking about is that we can all walk out of here as heroes."

Kaiden leaned in closer to Thane.

"All we got to do is get rid of Wrex and Jack. If we can get everyone else to play along, then we can be the men who took down our Sergeant's killers."

Thane was shocked at the gall Kaiden had.

"All we got to do," continued Kaiden, "is tell the story right."

Thane was having no more of this, "you're out of your mind."

Thane turned away from Kaiden and laid back down. After less than three minutes he found himself again amongst his dreams.

"_After I woke up, I saw Taylor and Kaiden talking_."

Thane's eyes flicker once more. The storm outside was still brewing hard and the shanty bunker did almost next to nothing to keep the rain out. Every now and then a drip of water from a crack in the ceiling would fall onto Thane's head.

Shapes began to take form and sure enough, Thane managed to make out Taylor within earshot of Kaiden. Thane couldn't hear what Alenko was saying but Taylor seemed interested.

Kaiden seemed to be finished with what he was saying because Taylor walked away and yawned, passing by a sleeping Wrex who, unlike his comrades, slept upright.

Taylor walked over to the flap that served as a door next to Wrex and peered outside. Although the flap did little to prevent anything from getting inside, it did manage to muffle the sound of the storm outside.

Thane saw Taylor slowly unholstered his Predator handgun and prime it. The storm outside silenced any noise the pistol made.

Instantly Thane was suspicious but even more so when he saw Taylor take said pistol and point it at Wrex's head. The sleeping Russian did not stir.

"NO!"

Thane did not intend to scream when he saw the pistol or yell at all, it simply came out of reflex.

However, it managed to wake Wrex up just as Taylor pulled the trigger. Wrex's hand came up and smacked the pistol away causing the bullet to miss him.

The bullet however did manage to find the throat of Zaeed Massani.

Zaeed, with his dead man's grip on his weapon, began spraying mass accelerated lead all over the bunker.

Jack, woken by the sound of the gunshot, rose to find herself in the company of two direct hits to her chest. With no armor on, the rounds easily passed through her and splattered the wall behind her.

Zaeed, already dead by this point, continued to fire his weapon.

Alenko found himself a prize possession of a bullet to the forehead. His body fell onto the cold floor, his hands still bound together.

A couple more found themselves inside of Thane's leg and hip.

Thane yelled out in shock and fell to the floor.

He soon found himself on the back of Sergeant Taylor as he was being carried through the jungle.

"_It was just a reflex… Zaeed had already been dead. I must have passed out because the next thing I knew we were taking fire from Wrex_…"

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY MEDICAL WING  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>1951 HOURS

Again, Ashley and Shepard stared at Thane, listening to his story.

"Wrex was chasing Taylor?" asked Ashley.

"Because he had shot Zaeed," clarified Thane as he pulled the hospital blanket tighter around him.

Shepard scratched his chin, "Why'd he carry you out?"

"I-I don't know… maybe he wanted someone to cover for him… But I can't. I know what I saw… Taylor killed those men…"

Ashley quickly chimed in, "will you testify to this?"

"Of course," Thane said plainly.

"Well then," Shepard said collecting his coat, "I guess that's it."

The two investigators began to make for the door.

"Agent Shepard?"

Shepard turned back to Thane.

"What did Taylor say to you?"

Shepard simply smiled and clicked his tongue. He turned and walked away.

Outside of the facility the rain had yet to stop or even light up a bit.

Shepard caught up to Ashley as she reached the transport that would take them to the main complex.

"Hey," Shepard said grasping Ashley's attention, "let's go grab a beer."

"I don't drink beer. What about the case?"

"You don't drink beer… Who doesn't drink beer?" Shepard asked unbelieving.

"Me. What about the case?"

The two climbed into the transport and gave the onboard VI their desired destination.

"The case is done." Shepard said looking at his watch, "with 2 hours and thirty minutes to spare. I thought we could grab a beer and I'd get to flirt with you a little bit. What do you think?"

Deep down Ashley would like nothing more than to just sit back and let this whole mess go away. But something just didn't feel right to her. Some things just didn't add up.

"You believe Krios?"

"Absolutely. Because Taylor wouldn't tell us everything and you know why? Because he did it."

"No, Taylor came back for Krios. I just don't think he's capable of murder."

Shepard scoffed, "How long have you been doing this?"

"What does that have to do with this?"

"That means less than a year."

Ashley rolled her eyes.

"Williams, murder is basic. No mysteries, no conspiracies, not grand puppet masters behind the scenes pulling the strings. Everyone is capable of murder."

Shepard popped his collar of his coat and leaned back, closing his eyes.

"Taylor's our guy."

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY MAIN COMPLEX  
>COLONEL DONALD UDINA'S OFFICE<br>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184  
>2011 HOURS<p>

Shepard sat with his feet up on Udina's desk with an amused expression on his face. To think that fifteen minutes ago he was sure he was going to have enough time to get back to his rat-hole of an apartment and later have the company he was desiring for. But fate would have it that Shepard never truly got what he wanted…

"Look," Udina said more to Ashley than Shepard but to him all the same, "there's no physical proof. You need a confession."

"A confession," Shepard mockingly repeated, "from Taylor? Forget it. You aren't going to talk that kid into giving himself up for the death penalty."

"Nevertheless…"

"Nevertheless what? Krios will testify. That's all we need."

"It's not…" began Udina slowly, "enough for me.

Shepard huffed once again and shook his head. Right now he was through with this situation and his frustration was clear as day.

Shepard burst through the doors of the mess hall where Taylor had still remained. Ashley was hot on his heels but at a much calmer pace.

"Hey Jacob, just had an interesting talk with your pal Krios. Seems like you killed a bunch of people."

Taylor chuckled, "that son-of-a-bitch."

"Yeah that's what my reaction would have been too," Shepard said as he laid on the table behind Taylor.

"He's lying."

Shepard threw his hands in the air, "why didn't you say something, we would have dropped all the charges then."

Taylor turned to face Shepard, "I'm serious god Damnit."

"Fuck you're serious," retorted Ashley who planted herself in front of Taylor, "right now we'd take the word of Hallex addict over you."

Taylor opened his mouth to say something but at the last second decided against it.

"If you got something to say, say it," ordered Ashley.

"Did… Did Krios tell you about the drugs? Did he tell you about the business Wrex ran?"

"What drugs?" asked Ashley who looked over at Shepard who was still lying on the table but this time had his arms folded on his chest.

"He sold them out of the hospital for 50 credits a pop. Anderson is a lot easier to handle when you can't feel the pain."

Shepard chuckled as he stood up, "oh that's good Jake, you know I'm a SpecTre investigating red sand down here and you figure you say drugs and I'm all ears, right?"

"It's not like that…"

Shepard rose from the table and walked over to the opposite side of Taylor grabbing a nearby chair.

"It's not? Why didn't you mention this before you were accused of murder? Wait I'll tell you."

Shepard sat down in his chair directly across from Taylor.

"Drug charges in the military come with a twenty year sentence. You figure if Krios fucked you, you'll fuck him right back."

"I didn't shoot Anderson."

"I know, Alenko did."

Taylor scoffed, "you think you know everything don't you? You haven't even scratched the surface."

"I know enough to know that you have two choices. One, you can sign the confession and spend the rest of your life in a cell. Or, you can tell us to fuck off and you'll be hanged."

Shepard leaned in close to a visibly pissed off Taylor.

"Now… am I scratching your surface yet?"

Taylor responded by rising from the table, jumping at Shepard, and tackling him to the ground. Before Taylor could throw a punch, Ashley arrived and pistol whipped him across the face.

"Dumb bastard!"

The MPs arrived seconds later and placed Taylor back into his seat with weapons trained on him. Ashley followed Shepard, who was rubbing the back of his head, out of the mess.

"Why the fuck isn't he in restraints?"

Ashley laughed, "excuse me?"

"The next time I borrow your balls I'll ask you."

Ashley continued to laugh.

Shepard turned from Ashley and began heading for the exit. He was nearly there when he was stopped by Udina.

"John? Where are you going?"

"I'm done."

Udina's face got red, "what do you mean? What about the confession?"

Shepard turned and got right into Udina's face.

"Why don't you fucking confess," Shepard said jabbing an accusatory finger into Udina's chest, "the only reason you brought me here was to save your career. Am I right? People are dead and you don't give a shit!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Anderson. Your fucking base commander here. You know what he's all about and you just stood by. It was only a matter of time before somebody fragged his ass. And you know what? He fucking deserved it!"

Shepard turned for the door, "Now there's your fucking confession!"

Shepard opened the giant wooden doors and walked out into the cold wet night.

_Fucking Fort Mercy…_

**A/N: **

**Thank you to all those that have reviewed so far and all those that have read this story. I hope you liked this chapter and if you have any comments, questions, or concerns, message me and I'll get back to you.**

**Enjoy the next chapter and stay classy out there!**


	7. Chapter 7

**SECTION 8**

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY MAIN COMPLEX  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>2021 HOURS

The sound of the front doors of Fort Mercy's main complex slamming shut caused most gathered to jump out of reaction. Ashley looked over at Udina who carried a bit of embarrassment and anger on his face.

She shook her head and followed Shepard outside. There was no way in hell that she would let this case die like this.

"Shepard!" she called out to him.

Shepard didn't bother to turn around. He just kept walking, stepping over a fallen palm tree.

"What about the case? What about Taylor huh? What about what he said about the drugs?"

Shepard scoffed and kept walking, "Williams you are incredible!"

He reached the transport terminal and lit up a cigarette, "If someone had mentioned Santa Claus, you'd be all like, you can't leave now Shepard we haven't explored the flying reindeer angle."

"You fucking coward!"

"You just stop right there! I was there alright! I was tortured by that guy ten years ago and I wanted him dead just as bad. Now you want me to feel bad for the guy that actually did it, I don't think so sister!"

"So fuck the military right? And fuck those kids too?"

"That's right!"

"Yeah… all they wanted to do was serve their species and take a stand and protect **assholes** like you!"

"Oh don't you dare play that card! Don't you talk to me like some good damned recruiting poster, I did my time!"

"Yeah and you couldn't hack it!"

Shepard was silenced for a moment.

"You were like me once," continued Ashley in a calmer tone, "You believed in the whole duty, honor, courage thing… and trying to make a difference in this galaxy. Isn't that what you said?"

Shepard leaned in close to her, "I was trying to get your number."

Ashley was silent.

"334-6544," she said without a hint of emotion.

"Thank you."

"You believed in it. I know you did, I saw it in your eyes. You believed it and those kids did too!"

Shepard tossed away his cigarette.

"And now they'll never get to tell their story and never get to expose Anderson for the monster you say he was."

"I thought you wanted me gone?"

"You grew on me…"

Ashley ignored Shepard's sly smirk and turned to fully face him.

"Now I'm going back and I'm going to talk to Krios and I'm going to talk to Taylor and I'm going to figure this whole mess out."

Ashley turned away from Shepard.

Shepard remained with that smirk on his face as he leaned up against the side of the terminal.

"I didn't shoot Anderson," he said to Ashley causing her to turn back to him.

"What?"

"It's what Taylor said, 'I didn't shoot Anderson'. Anderson wasn't shot. Krios said he was burned by a Phosphorus grenade. Taylor never saw the body."

It suddenly dawned on Ashley the subtle contradiction to Thane's story.

Shepard led the way as the two headed off to talk to Taylor once again.

Shepard found himself once again seated in front of Taylor. This time he was seated in a manner so that if Taylor wanted to jump him again, he would be ready.

"Hey look," began Taylor as Ashley found herself a seat, "I'm sorry."

Shepard simply cocked his head to the side, not showing whether or not he accepted the apology. There was a minute of awkwardness.

Ashley interrupted the awkwardness, "You saw Anderson's body?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Where," asked Shepard with a hint of controlled hatred in his voice. Taylor visibly cleared his throat and removed eye contact with Shepard. For some reason, Shepard was starring daggers into Taylor right now and Taylor seemed visibly on edge.

"Down by the creek bed, in a clearing."

"And he was shot?" added Ashley.

"Yes… he was."

"What about the phosphorus grenade?" asked Shepard.

"One went off yeah, but it didn't touch him."

Ashley leaned in, "tell us."

PANAMA CANAL  
>N7 TRAINING ZONE BRAVO<br>NOVEMBER 1ST 2184  
>1301 HOURS<p>

The sound and sight of a white phosphorus grenade going off broke Taylor from the exercise. He charged through the bush until finally coming to a clearing where he found Zaeed, Jack and Krios, huddled around the corpse of Staff Sergeant David Anderson.

"What did you do?" asked Jack amusingly.

"We found him like this," replied Zaeed.

Taylor leaned down to check for a pulse. Anderson's eyes were frozen in surprise. Whoever had shot him… he never saw it coming.

"I said we found him like this!" repeated Zaeed.

"_Stop_," said Shepard with his one hand flexed out in the universal sign for stop, "_Krios said that only Jack showed up at the body and you were in the bunker with Wrex._"

"_He's lying. I was there at the body and we didn't see Wrex until we got back to the bunker_.

PANAMA CANAL  
>N7 TRAINING ZONE BRAVO<br>RALLY POINT X-RAY  
>NOVEMBER 1ST 2184<br>1345 HOURS

All four recruits entered the bunker to find Wrex huddled over a small fire without his shirt on. In his hand was a stick that he would occasionally poke the fire with.

"Where've you been?" he asked the group.

"Anderson… He's dead," reported Taylor.

"_Wait back up_," ordered Ashley, "_Wrex was alone in the bunker_?"

"_Yeah_…"

"What are you doing here alone?" asked Zaeed.

"Well… Kaiden and I got separated. Then I heard gunfire."

Jack walked around him like a predator ready for a kill, "so did we," she said mentioning with her head towards Taylor, "Why didn't you come?"

Wrex simply shrugged.

"So," began Zaeed with accusing steps as he drew closer to Wrex, "where's your grenade?"

Wrex snorted and leaned back to his pack. He shuffled around for a moment before retrieving a grenade. He held it up for all to see.

"_I didn't buy it_," clarified Taylor, "_but Wrex still had his grenade_."

"_At least you and Krios agree on that_," commented Ashley.

"_Okay, what happened next_?" asked Shepard getting down to business.

"…_Kaiden came back_."

Corporal Kaiden Alenko burst into the bunker and placed his weapon down. After wiping the water and sweat from his face, he turned to Wrex.

"Wrex, what happened to you?"

"What happened to **you**? One second you next to me, the next you're gone and then the whole sky lights up like Christmas."

Taylor, now seated, looks up to Kaiden.

"Where've you been Kaiden?"

"There's a hurricane out there okay. I couldn't find the spot and my radio is busted," he said before looking around, "Where is Anderson? Wasn't he supposed to meet us here?"

Taylor paused but it was enough time for Zaeed to put his two cents in.

"Ha, yeah right."

"Shut up Zaeed," ordered Taylor before turning back to Kaiden, "Anderson is dead."

"What?" Kaiden voiced loudly.

His head turned around the room catching the accusing glances from everyone around him.

"Oh, I see how it is. Fuck you! Alright, fuck you!"

He was interrupted by the sound of Jack priming her pistol. Behind him Zaeed stealthily took Kaiden's rifle which he had placed down beforehand.

"Kaiden, we just want to see your pack," she said as she seductively circled him.

"Why?"

"Because whoever killed the Sarge popped a grenade first," she replied.

Kaiden became visibly upset.

"So a dead body turns up and we all place it on the darkest face in the room?"

"Hey," said Taylor reassuringly, "it's not like that and you know it."

"Do I, Taylor?"

Jack stopped her circling and placed herself within inches of Kaiden.

"I just want you," she said planting a kiss on his cheek, "to show them your pack. Right now."

Kaiden shrugged her off and unfastened his pack.

"This is such bullshit!" he said as he threw it onto the ground in front of Taylor.

Taylor said nothing as he opened the pack's flap and began rifling around inside of it.

When he came up empty he turned to his fellow comrades, "tie him up."

PANAMA CANAL  
>N7 TRAINING ZONE BRAVO<br>RALLY POINT X-RAY  
>NOVEMBER 1ST 2184<br>1425 HOURS

Taylor had taken watch duty on Kaiden and was staring out into the storm. Not the first time he wished that he was back home in Vermont, sitting down with his family and his dog Ronald and enjoying a nice simple barbeque. But his life was growing more and more complicated by the second.

The Sarge was dead. Kaiden was missing his grenade so it had to be him. His military career was now officially over and he was willing to bet that everyone on the squad will be quietly discharged for letting a famous, or rather, infamous, drill instructor such as Anderson get killed.

It wasn't any secret that Anderson was best buddies with all the high ups including Fleet Admiral Hackett, President Kahoku, as well as Four Star General Mikhailovich. With friends like that it was a wonder why Anderson wasn't in the field and instead training recruits at Fort Mercy for the past fifteen years.

Then again Anderson had a tendency to come off as an aggressive, anti-social, psycho so that might have been a reason.

"Taylor."

Taylor turned around to see Kaiden silently addressing him.

"Taylor are we friends?"

Taylor remained silent as he looked around at his sleeping comrades.

"Taylor," Kaiden repeated grasping his full attention, "we're friends right?"

"Yeah," Taylor simply stated.

"Then untie me man, you know I didn't do this!"

"You hated Anderson more than any of us."

"Maybe, but not enough to make me a damn killer," Kaiden defended.

"You're the only one missing a grenade," Taylor reminded.

"Anybody could have taken it out of my pack. Did you check yours coming in on the bird?'

Taylor was silent. True, if someone wanted to frame someone for Anderson's death, Kaiden would have been the perfect scapegoat. And no, he never did check his pack, which meant he was just as susceptible to a frame job as anyone else.

But who could have the motive to kill Anderson besides Kaiden?

"You know that I don't have this in me!" Kaiden pleaded.

"Alright, if not you, then who?"

"Wrex."

"Oh come on," Taylor said disbelieving.

"Think about it. We were all scouting that area then he just up and disappears?"

"Funny that's what he says about you."

"Well, who are you going to believe? A commie or your friend?"

Kaiden could see that his case wasn't going anywhere.

"Here' check my pack," Kaiden said taking out a small pack from his larger one that was no bigger than a fanny pack. Taylor opened it to find a syringe still wrapped in plastic.

"What's this?"

"It's a combat cocktail," replied Kaiden, "I get nasty migraines because of the L2 implants and Anderson's course isn't helping."

"You're lying man."

Kaiden moved his sleeve to reveal a line of track marks on his shoulder.

"Does that look like I'm lying? It kills the pain and focuses the brain. I've been using for about eight weeks solid now… that first night was bad… I need… I needed something to keep me from crashing due to malnutrition and exposure… it was bad… Wrex hooked me up."

Taylor shot a glare in Wrex's direction. The burly Russian was sound asleep upright still without his shirt on.

"Now the way I see it," continued Kaiden, "Anderson found out. He was going to report 'em and they killed him first."

"They?"

"Wrex and Zaeed. They must have sabotaged the radios or some shit and then took the grenade out of my pack coming in on the Kodiak.

Taylor could see it happening.

Someone pops white, Anderson shows up to investigate, Wrex plays dumb, and as soon as Anderson turns his back, Wrex opens up. Zaeed keeps Krios in the dark by knocking him down and playing it off like they were under fire from a drone.

In a weird way it made perfect sense.

"You saw Anderson's body," stated Kaiden, "how was he killed?"

Taylor remembered in detail, "His chest was a hamburger Kaiden."

"See that's close range. You go full auto on somebody at close range, they're going to be swimming in blood," Kaiden logically stated, "look at me. Do you see any blood on me?"

Taylor hung his head, trying to figure the facts from the lies.

"What about Wrex? When I showed up, he wasn't wearing shit."

"I don't know man…"

"Ugh! What don't you know?"

"I need time to digest this. I need to think!"

"Come on Jake, we don't got time to think. We need to go!"

Outside the storm was growing in intensity. Parts of the roof began to fly apart letting more rain water get inside the bunker.

"Just wait," bargained Taylor, "We wait until we get back and we tell the MPs."

"No, no, no, we go back like this I am a dead man. I am a black man," said Kaiden, "and there are over a hundred men out there dying to tell everyone how much I hated Anderson. My court martial will take less than five seconds. Now it's either me or them and I ain't got that kind of time."

Taylor knew he needed to make a decision. A lot of what Kaiden was saying made sense. But what if, on the off chance, he was wrong. What if Kaiden really did mow down Anderson? Was he going to live with the fact that he allowed a killer to go free and let two innocent men suffer?

"Jacob… untie me," pleaded Kaiden.

Taylor unsheathed his combat knife and placed it on Kaiden's bonds. He hesitates for a moment, one last time deliberating if he should let Kaiden go or not. However it's that hesitation that ruins the chance.

"What are you doing?"

Taylor and Kaiden turn to see Wrex up and awake shooting them both with accusing glances.

"This place is going to go, we need to leave-"

"Shut the hell up Kaiden," Wrex commanded, pulling out his Canifex hand cannon, "Hey everyone, wake up!"

The other three recruits stirred themselves awake. What they awake to is Taylor who has his knife drawn over a restrained Kaiden. Some could say they instantly jumped to conclusions.

"You were going to cut him loose?" Wrex asked rhetorically.

Everyone's eyes met Taylor's.

"Why?" asked Jack breaking the silence.

"Because I didn't do it Jack, that's why," answered Kaiden.

"We all know what you did Alenko," stated Wrex.

"Yeah, well where's your shirt Uri?" asked Kaiden.

The look of sheer confusion was clear as day on Wrex's face, "my shirt?"

"I tossed it I was soaking wet," he quickly added.

"Yeah, convenient excuse for the murderer, he tossed his bloody shirt?"

"I was freezing from the hurricane!" Wrex defended.

"So you took your shirt off?" asked Thane disbelieving.

"Fuck you fairy, I wasn't wearing a poncho. What about him," he said pointing to Kaiden, "maybe he offed Sarge and brought an extra shirt."

"We don't have time for this, we have to go!" stated Kaiden as yet another piece of the roof was jettisoned by the storm.

"We're not going anywhere," Wrex primed his hand cannon.

"Specialist Uri Wrex," said Kaiden standing up as he began walking towards Wrex. Taylor quickly jumped in with Zaeed as they attempted to hold him back, "You are hereby under military arrest for the murder of Staff Sergeant David Anderson!"

"You don't have any authority!"

"It doesn't matter, because you will be charged with murder!"

"Shut up!"

"You will be tried by a military tribunal-"

"Shut up you dumb fucking nigger!" Wrex hollered as he pointed his gun at Kaiden.

"Fuck you, you white piece of red trash! I saw you fucking do it!"

BANG

The mass accelerated round fired itself from the barrel of Wrex's gun. It flew through the air with the upmost precision and ended its brief journey through Kaiden Alenko's right eye socket.

Blood splattered all over Zaeed and Taylor. Kaiden's body feel lifeless to the ground.

"What the fuck?" exclaimed Zaeed.

"Oh my god…" stated a shocked Thane.

"What did you do?" asked an equally shocked Jack.

"He-He would shut the fuck up!" defended Wrex.

"So you kill him?" inquired Taylor.

Without hesitation Taylor reached for his own sidearm only to have Zaeed's rifle barrel poke into his chest.

"Don't think about it mate."

Jack followed suit by pointing her own pistol at Taylor.

"You too?" asked Taylor whop on the outside remained unaffected by his team's sudden betrayal.

"I'm sorry Jacob," she simply stated.

"Here it is," began Zaeed, "That bloke there got free and made a dash for a weapon. He attacked us, we shot 'em dead and that's that. That's our story and we're sticking to it."

Wrex suddenly began to freak out, "Anderson was one thing but this is a whole other-"

"Shut up!" both Jack and Zaeed ordered

"We have two dead bodies and a story that explains them," Zaeed stated as he lit up a cigar, "that's what we're going to say."

He suddenly turned and pointed his rifle at Thane while Jack kept hers on Taylor.

"Now sonny, you either with or against us. Don't really much care but it'll save us one loose end if you just comply."

"Zaeed, put the gun down," Thane dictated with his hands up in surrender.

When it was clear that neither Taylor nor Thane would agree to the plan, Wrex primed his weapon once more, "Ah hell, looks like we'll have to shoot them both."

Just as he pointed the gun the roof suddenly collapsed. Rain water and high winds flooded the small bunker. Taylor took this chance to pull his weapon and fire three times into Zaeed's chest. Zaeed fell, his finger on the trigger, as he sprayed rounds all over the bunker.

Jack, who initially fell from the forced of the roof collapsing, stood to find two rounds hit her in the chest.

Thane jumped away from the roof imploding and hit the dirt, however this still wasn't enough to avoid Zaeed's random fire as a few rounds hit his leg and hip.

"_The rest you already know_," Taylor said to the two investigators, "_I grabbed Krios and hulled him out of there_."

"_And you exchanged fire with Wrex_," said Ashley.

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY MAIN COMPLEX  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>2154 HOURS

Taylor stumped out the butt of his cigarette.

"Can I get some more coffee?" he asked Shepard.

Shepard look over at him, "huh?"

"Some more coffee?"

"Yeah. Sure."

Him and Ashley got up and left the mess hall and walked into her office.

"So," began Ashley, "the plan was to kill Anderson and blame it on Kaiden."

"And for that to work they needed a witness," added Shepard.

"Taylor."

"Exactly."

"It's a good plan," Ashley admits, "but it goes wrong. Wrex flips out and shoots their fall guy. Now they have to bring Taylor and Krios into their cover story."

"And Krios would have agreed if the hurricane didn't butt-fuck the bunker."

Ashley chuckled, "Butt-fuck the bunker?"

"Well that's just… zim, zam, zoom, happy endings," Shepard replied taking a sip on his coffee, "what do you think?"

Ashley thought about it.

"I think we're going to need proof."

Shepard and Ashley exited her office and returned to Taylor.

"Jake," said Shepard placing a holo pad in front of him, "We're going to need what you said in writing," he finished by placing a cup of joe next to the pad.

"Taylor?" Ashley said grasping Taylor's unwavering attention, "We're going to have to collaborate your testimony or this is just another story."

Taylor nodded and reached into his pockets,

He placed, in front of both investigators, the same syringe Kaiden had given him in the bunker.

"Kaiden said that his supplier was some guy over at the hospital.

Taylor took a sip from his coffee.

"A guy named Harper."

**A/N: **

**Another chapter down and we're finally getting to the good parts.  
>Again, any questions or whatever, don't hesitated to ask me. Don't worry I don't bite… hard.<br>Tee hee!**

**Hope you enjoyed the latest addition and remember to stay classy out there!**


	8. Chapter 8

**SECTION 8**

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY EN ROUTE TO MEDICAL WING  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>2203 HOURS

Shepard and Ashley quickly boarded a transport and headed over to the Medical Wing of Fort Mercy.

Shepard could tell that Ashley was visibly upset. He didn't know exactly what happened, or is happening, between her and Harper, but it was enough to make her take a personal shot from this betrayal.

After a few minutes of silence, Shepard lit up a cigarette, took a puff to get it started, and handed it to Ashley.

"I don't smoke," she said waving it off.

"Neither do I, but it will help to calm you down."

Ashley sent him a glare that would make weaker men cry for their mothers and suckle their thumbs. But Shepard was used to being on the receiving end of such glares from women and held his position firm.

Finally Ashley caved in and took a hit.

She handed it back to him as she erupted into a coughing fit.

"I haven't had one of those since college."

"How long have you and Jack been together?"

"Oh… on and off for two years…"

"Was it serious?"

"Semi…"

"For you or for him?"

Ashley looked over at him, "You don't get to interrogate me Shepard."

"What about the drugs, did you know?" he asked her.

"No!" she snapped instantly and full of rage.

"Sorry, I had to ask."

Shepard nodded his head, "We got to put him in a room you know?"

"Try and stop me," Ashley replied.

For a split second Shepard wanted to tease her about who is and isn't the murdering type because she had a look in her eye that he had seen far too often.

In the end he kept his mouth shut. In hindsight, it was probably the best decision he made all night.

The transport parked itself outside the medical complex and Shepard and Ashley quickly hopped out.

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY MEDICAL WING  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>2220 HOURS

Dr. Jack Harper was having an interesting night.

Earlier he got to meet an old friend and see a past conquest and get reacquainted. Besides the process of moving supplies for his reassignment to Arcturus, it was a relatively calm night. Only one or two people were injured from the hurricane but they only had superficial injures and nothing life threatening.

He had just requested an MRI scan from one of the nurses when he turned around to see both Shepard and Ashley staring at him.

Shepard had his usual grin on his face telling Harper that something was about to happen that was in Shepard's favor.

Ashley on the hand, made him realize that it was not going to be in his own liking. She held a permanent scowl and was impatiently tapping her foot on the ground.

"Hey Ashy-bird, what can I do for you guys?"

"We need to talk," Ashley stated.

"Just us or-"

"Nope" chimed in Shepard, "this one here's going to be a three way."

Two minutes later Harper found himself seated in his office with both investigators staring daggers at him. It was enough to make a Krogan uncomfortable.

Without a word Ashley placed a holo pad on his desk.

She pushed play and Taylor's voice entered the atmosphere.

"_Kaiden said the supplier was some guy over at the hospital… a guy named Harper_."

Harper chuckled, "Shit if it's on tape then it must be true."

"Piece of advice," said Ashley taking off her coat, "charming isn't the tact to take with us right now."

Harper nodded his head.

"I want a lawyer," he said bluntly.

Ashley drifted her gaze to the floor. Only guilty men or those who are hiding something lawyer up. It was all she needed to confirm Taylor's story in her eyes. Part of her wished to believe that Jack Harper was innocent. But only the guilty have something to fear, and Harper was fearing something to have to lawyer up.

"No," she said resuming eye contact, "You don't get a lawyer."

"Fuck you Ash. Uniform code of the military says I can have a lawyer. I don't have to say shit to you."

Ashley smiled before lifting up her boot and placing a well-aimed kick right in Harper's face. Harper let out a loud grunt as he slammed into the ground

"Oh! How 'bout them Yankees!" Shepard commented.

"See what I just did there Jack? That was illegal. It'll end my career. Any hopes of going to law school after this is gone. I have nothing left to lose."

She leaned over Harper who was cradling his bleeding nose.

"Now, do you really want to go round two?"

Harper looked over at his longtime friend only to see Shepard grab a nearby magazine and flip through the pages.

"Jesus Christ… thanks buddy!"

"Don't mention it," replied Shepard who hadn't taken his eyes away from the magazine.

Harper knew the jig was up.

"I called them Combat Cocktails okay. I got them hooked, I got them to push. Once they were in they couldn't get out it was the perfect goddamn crime," he summarized as he once again caressed his nose.

"How did you get around the drug testing?" asked Shepard as he put down his reading material.

"Who the hell do you think administered the tests? I swapped their piss with someone who was clean. They could use all they wanted and never pop positive," Harper admitted as he stood up.

"Who else was involved?" asked Ashley.

"You broke my goddamn nose bitch!"

"Who else was involved?" Ashley repeated.

"Wrex a-and that kid who took the bullet… Krios."

Harper recognized the expressions on both investigators faces as they received unknown information.

"What you didn't know that?"

Shepard ignored his question, "how did you recruit them?"

"You know how it is in Panama Johnny… it's easy to spot the bad eggs."

Harper continued his confession.

"In the first week I snuck a few off base. I bought them some drinks, trying to find out which ones were interested. After that it was smooth sailing. I handled the cooking supplies and they handled the distribution. That's that."

Again Harper played with his nose, wincing at the pain.

"How did Anderson find out," asked Ashley.

"I didn't know he knew, I just supply," Harper explained, "I have no idea about what happened last night I swear."

"That's real noble, thanks for clarifying," added Shepard.

Ashley folded her hands in front of her, "how long have you been doing this?"

"Gee, I don't know, I wasn't looking at my watch."

"We're you doing this while we-"

"While we were fucking?" interrupted Harper, "yeah… right under your nose."

Ashley called in the MP, "Private Verner?"

A blonde MP strode into the office, coming from his hiding place around the corner.

"Yes ma'am?"

"Conrad I need you to read Mr. Harper here his rights, see to it that he gets medical attention, and then stick him in a cell."

"Yes ma'am," the MP said with a salute and grabbed Harpers arm and led him away.

Shepard chuckled, "Nice seeing you again Jack."

Ashley tapped her chin, deep in thought.

"What?" asked Shepard.

"Why would he risk twenty years in prison just to sell a few painkillers. It just doesn't add up…"

She thought about it some more.

"Krios is the key."

Seconds later another MP, Private Eddie Lang, knocked on the door.

"Yes Eddie?"

"Ma'am, Colonel Udina is looking for you and Mr. Shepard. He requests your presence right away."

"Tell him we'll be right over."

Private Lang saluted, "yes ma'am."

Once the private left, Ashley turned, grabbed her coat, and began heading out the door. Shepard grabbed her arm at the last second.

"How far are you willing to take this huh? I say we got see Donald, hand over Harper, give him Taylor's confession and forget about Krios."

Ashley didn't respond. Instead she resumed her interrupted journey that led back to Colonel Udina's office.

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY  
>COLONEL UDINA'S OFFICE<br>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184  
>2243 HOURS<p>

"So Harper admitted to selling the drugs," Udina summarized.

Shepard nodded, "yes."

Udina put his hand over his face, "oh, Christ."

Shepard stood up from his chair, "listen Udina, we got Harper's confession, Taylor's confession, and that's more than enough to clear you with CID."

"Good…"

Udina realized he was out of both the frying pan and the freezer and appeared to be in the clear.

"Good… Good job… both of you, excellent work."

Shepard headed for the door.

"Well I guess we'll get out of here."

He was nearly home free; hell he could feel his bed underneath him and hear the vibrant sounds of the locals enjoying the parade that he no doubt had missed.

"Sir, there is one more thing," said Ashley causing Shepard to stop dead in his tracks. Shepard turned around. The thoughts of a bed and a fifth of whiskey immediately left his brain.

"Harper said that Krios was involved in the drug scheme."

Udina sighed, "Lieutenant I don't want to hear this."

Ashley lowered her head. Not in defeat but in frustration.

Shepard stood there, watching Ashley's expression. He knew she wouldn't give up. Not if there was at least one lead left to follow, one tiny bread crumb. She would go all the way down the rabbit hole to find the truth and nothing would stop her. It was a trait Shepard respected. One he wouldn't let go to waste.

In truth it was all up to what he said right here. If allowed this to continue any longer well, that's more work that needed to get done. Or he could just ignore it and let bygones be bygones.

"Actually," he began, noticing Ashley's head perk up, "Krios did try to burn Taylor with us so… that usually means someone's involved."

Udina wasn't having any of it.

"Lieutenant Williams you are not to go near Krios. Is that understood?"

"Chrystal sir," She said with a sharp salute as she followed Shepard out the door.

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY MEDICAL WING  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>2300 HOURS

Ashley never believed her sister Sarah when she called her stubborn. She never listened to Abbey when she called her impulsive. And she never listened to Lynn… well, at all.

But the one person she did listen to was her mother. She would always tell Ashley to follow her gut and trust her heart.

That was exactly what she was doing right now as she approached Krios' bed.

"Kaiden never admitted to shooting Anderson, did he?"

She didn't give Thane a chance to answer.

"You tried to pin three stone cold murders on Taylor."

Thane looked over to Shepard.

"Hey, why don't you ask him about all the murders he's covered up for his drug dealer?"

Thane continued as Shepard stared down at him like a Vulture over a dead piece of meat.

"Did it ever weigh on your conscience, or do you just not think about it?"

For some reason Thane found this incredibly hilarious as he laughed into his blanket. Ashley glanced over at the clock and noticed that there was only a half hour before the transport for Taylor and Krios arrived.

"Running out of time!" Thane taunted as he continued to laugh, "tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock!"

Ashley ripped the blanket away from him.

"Wrex shot Kaiden in cold blood," she stated.

Ashley felt anger and impatience swell up inside her to unknown levels as Thane shushed her down.

"I don't remember that at all. Don't get me wrong, Wrex was perfectly capable of murder. H-He was the type of guy that made you uncomfortable to sleep around."

Shepard grabbed Thane by his chin and forced the private to look at him directly in the eyes.

"Why did you try to pin three murders on Taylor? The man saved your life."

"Oh, so I should cover up for his misdeeds? What, I was telling you the truth… I really was!"

"Not according to Jack Harper," Ashley informed the young private.

Thane snapped his head away from Shepard's vice-grip.

"Harper? Harper, Harper, Harper… Is that what you think you have on me? It's the word of a drug peddler against mine, the son of a Four Star General."

Ashley motioned for Shepard to follow her into the hall. Once there she turned to face him.

"They got their story straight."

"What do you mean?"

"About Wrex being the type of guy that made you uncomfortable to sleep around? That's what Taylor said about Wrex before. They planned this."

She walked passed a visibly impressed Shepard and back to Krios.

"Not bad for hostile and uncooperative," Shepard said under his breath before turning to follow Ashley into the room.

"You and Taylor got your story right huh? Bouncing us back and forth all night, trying to figure out the differences, killing time until the transport showed up to whisk you away?"

"No, no, no, no…"

"You're an accessory to murder, do you understand that?"

Thane began laughing.

"You're going to jail. Ain't that right Shepard?"

"If he's lucky."

Thane popped up pointing a finger at Shepard.

"You know what? You're full of shit! You're full of shit!"

Thane laid back down and began to laugh again. His laugh suddenly reminded Ashley of that old cartoon character that was Batman's evil nemesis but she couldn't remember what he called himself.

In the end it didn't matter.

"Are you scared Thane? Is that why you're laughing?"

Thane's laughing became louder now and higher pitched sounding like it belong in a mental institution.

As Ashley and Thane went back and forth, with Ashley pointing the accusing finger and Thane laughing it all away, Shepard began to make his way over to the right side of Thane's bed. His eyes gleamed with a predatory glare, never leaving Krios once, and a soft smile formed on his face that would send chills down the Grim Reaper's spine.

Finally he came to a stop, noticing the blood leaking from Krios' ear.

Just as the EKG began to quicken, just as Krios suddenly began to spasm violently and blood began to leak out of his nose and eyes in addition to his ears, Shepard rushed to the hallway and ordered a nurse to come at the top of his lungs.

His voice was loud and booming and would make any general proud.

"What's going on?" asked a confused Ashley.

Suddenly Thane lurched forward and began heaving pints of blood. By the time the nurses and doctors arrived there was already a decent sized pool underneath him.

"Get the suction!" ordered on of the nurses.

As the doctors and the nurses tried to hold Thane down, Ashley saw him outstretch his hand, as if he intended to give her something.

She reached out her palm, half expecting to be handed some object. Instead all she felt was Thane's finger as it danced around her palm. Once the EKG flat lined, Thane had finished his message and left Ashley's eyes wide in shock.

_What does this mean?_

**A/N:**

**Did anyone see that coming? If you didn't than I am doing a good job. If you did, than chances are you've seen the movie so you don't count.  
>Hope you are following this okay if you have any question, comments, or concerns lay 'em on me and I'll be happy to answer.<strong>

**Till next time!**


	9. Chapter 9

**SECTION 8**

**CHAPTER NINE**

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY MEDICAL WING  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>2315 HOURS

The aftermath of Private Thane Krios' death is what one could expect to happen when the son of a joint chief's general dies.

The very first thing to happen is to find blame.

"Lieutenant Williams," said Colonel Udina as he approached a visibly shaken Lieutenant.

"Sir."

"You're relieved of your duties until further notice."

"Yes, sir," she said letting her eyes drop to the floor.

"You're lucky I don't put you in for a Court Martial."

Udina began to walk away.

"He was dirty Donald," defended Shepard.

"And now he's dead John!" Udina snapped, "And don't think you're not on my shit list too!"

Udina visibly calmed himself down.

"We found the bunker. It was demolished like they said; no bodies."

"In a hurricane like that? Come on, it could have blown them three counties away… What happens to Taylor now?"

"In ten minutes he's getting on a plane. That means you're done. I hope you understand if I don't walk you out."

With that Udina turned and walk away to go take care of the giant cluster-fuck this situation had turned into.

"Strange kid…" Ashley said after a few moments of silence.

"What?"

"Even as he was dying he was making jokes about infinity," she said showing the design on her palm.

It was of two circles pushed next to each other to make a never ending pattern, the universal sign for infinity.

Suddenly Ashley stopped moving. Her eyes fixated on the design. Behind her, Shepard stared expectantly.

"What," he finally asked.

Ashley pulled out a small lose leaf piece of paper and examined it for a moment before turning to face Shepard.

"Taylor wrote this when he asked for an N7," she said holding up the note the Taylor had written back when he was first brought in, "there's an eight on it."

Shepard continued to stare.

Ashley raised her other hand, the one with the design she had received from Krios moments before he died. Held sideways, it was the symbol for infinity, two never ending spheres. But held upright and the design changes… into an eight.

Shepard stared at her some more before finally uttering, "I don't know…"

Ashley smiled at him, "it's okay… I'll find out by myself."

She turned and walked away.

"Stop!"

Ashley turned to Shepard who was nodding.

"Okay… this is what I know…"

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>1755 HOURS

ABOUT SIX HOURS PRIOR

Udina grabbed Shepard by the arm and began to lead him away, "Lieutenant, will you excuse us for a moment?" he asked rhetorically. Ashley saluted and walked several meters away, out of hearing range, waiting until she was called upon again.

"With all due respect to Williams, this is way out her league," Udina said to Shepard in a hushed voice.

"This kid we have in interrogation requested an N7, someone he never met. That's you."

"Jesus Don, the guy could've requested a Tantalus Drive Core, doesn't mean you give it to him."

Shepard grew suspicious as he tried to figure out the situation himself.

"I don't get this… any spooks involved here? ONI? Anything like that?"

"Not exactly."

"What's that supposed to mean."

"There were a group of guys down here and they…"

"They what? Common Don, spill it."

Shepard could tell that his old friend was almost afraid to tell him what was going on. As he simply muttered a word he would be killed on the spot.

"There was a group of guys down here who were way out on the hairy edge," Udina began to explain, "They did covert stuff and they…"

"What?" Shepard said growing slightly irritated with his friend's constant pausing.

"They went rouge…They went renegade. They dropped completely off the grid, disappeared right into drug land, and with their special skills they cut one hell of a swath through the competition."

Udina continued as Shepard listened with interest.

"Anderson trained some of these guys. He hated them for they did and they hated him. That could be what this is about."

"Who knows about this?" Shepard asked.

"How the hell do I know… They're ghosts right? They're dead. All of this could just be some story… But the note that kid wrote… it had an eight on it…"

Udina shifted his weight.

"And that's what this group called themselves…"

Shepard felt a small smile grow on his lips before he quickly suppressed it.

"… Section Eight…"

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY MEDICAL WING  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>2320 HOURS

Ashley caught her jaw before it made skid marks on the floor.

"Section Eight? As in they're crazy?" Ashley asked as she paced herself in an empty hallway inside the Medical facility of Fort Mercy.

"That's what I was thinking."

Ashley thought about everything. What if these kids were all Section Eight and belong to this rouge group of Special Forces soldiers. In a weird way it all made sense.

She shook her head, "How could you keep that from me?"

Shepard rubbed his brow, "Classified," he uttered simply.

Ashley scoffed, "Son of a bitch…"

The next thing Shepard knew he was being thrown in an unused room falling flat on his back.

"I've had it with you!" Ashley said as she followed into the room

Ashley brought her foot down to kick him but Shepard caught it at the last second, twisted and threw her to the ground.

He stood up, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Okay, so, now are you happy?"

Ashley responded by throwing another kick towards Shepard's abdomen. Again Shepard easily dodged the attack and caught her leg, gripping her throat with his free hand.

Suddenly the two locked eyes. For a moment everything the two have secretly felt for each other came rushing forward.

Shepard, with his hands firmly locking Ashley in place, brought her face closer to his. Just before he could touch her lips with his own, He felt a pistol jab him in the chest.

He looked down at the pistol and then back at Ashley who had a devilish grin on her face.

"Is that a no?"

Ashley dropped the pistol, "It's a shut the hell up," she said before closing the distance between the two.

Without much effort, Shepard slid onto the floor, closing the door to the room shut with a well-placed throw of his boot.

After making the horizontal monster mash, the two got dressed and headed out.

"Well," Ashley said bumping a smirking Shepard with her elbow, "I guess that's a new meaning for drop and give me twenty."

"You still sassing me soldier?" asked Shepard in a playful tone, "I think we should make it forty."

Shepard leaned in and planted a small kiss on Ashley's lips before she pushed him away and kept walking.

"Now, what do I have to do to prove that I'm in top physical condition?"

Waiting for them by the entrance were MPs Lang, and Verner with a cuffed Jack Harper.

"Ma'am," greeted Lang, "I need your signature for this guy's transport."

Ashley walked over to the data pad that Lang was holding and signed it.

"What the hell happened to you two?" Harper jokingly asked.

Ashley didn't realize it but her hair was an absolute mess. Looking at Shepard, who was still smiling, she could tell that he had put his shirt on backwards.

"None of your business Harper," she coldly replied, "Krios is dead and the CID is here to take you to Arcturus. Remember not to drop the soap."

Harper shrugged, "Guess I'm on the same transport as Kaiden then."

He then turned over to Ashley.

"Hey Ash, you bitch, why don't you go get me something to eat, I'm starving."

Shepard instantly rose from the wall he was leaning on.

"What did you say?"

"I didn't mean to call her a bitch."

"No, no, no, before that."

Harper glanced at both Ashley and Shepard, "You mean about me and Kaiden being on the same transport together?"

"Taylor?"

"No, Kaiden… The one they just hauled out of here? Alenko? The one they brought in with Krios."

"You mean Taylor?" asked Ashley.

"No that's not right."

"Why not," asked Shepard.

"John… Jacob Taylor is black."

**A/N: **

**Oh snap crackle pop!  
>This should be coming to fruition soon enough. Probably one or two Chapters left to go.<br>Questions? Comments? Concerns? Bother someone else I'm trying to watch the new Transformers movie… wait… Megan Fox isn't in it?  
>Fuck it then, my life is now meaningless…<br>Good bye cruel world!  
>(places gun to head and pulls the trigger)<br>CLICK  
>Oh for crying out loud… just go read the next fucking chapter…<br>… stupid gun…**


	10. Chapter 10

**SECTION 8**

**CHAPTER TEN**

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY EN ROUTE TO AIRSTRIP  
>NOVEMBER 2ND 2184<br>2327 HOURS

Ashley and Shepard hopped into the nearest transport they could find. Both were visibly pissed off and embarrassed that they were being tricked the whole time.

"Damn it," Shepard exclaimed as he took his frustration out on the dash board in front of him, "Son of a bitch planned the whole thing!"

"Dog tags don't show race and our systems been down throughout the entire time the hurricane has been blowing through!" Ashley explained, "there's no way we could have known."

"What Hanger is his transport head off from?"

"Hanger four!" Ashley replied as she punched the transport into the highest gear possible.

Clocking in at about 250 miles per hour they arrived with moments to spare.

The leader of the CID group transporting the now discovered to be Kaiden Alenko, turned to see Ashley running up to him.

"Sir!" she called out to him, "I need to speak with your prisoner right now!"

"What lieutenant?"

"I need to take him back for questioning," explained Ashley.

Unfortunately for Kaiden no one noticed Shepard as he calmly but swiftly strode through the guards. When he finally reached Kaiden, he grabbed him by the arm.

"We're not finished with you yet Kaiden!"

"Wanna bet?" Alenko replied.

The guards managed to push back Shepard and allowed Kaiden to retreat up the steps to the transport, an A90 Heavy Goliath transport ship that is used by the military for transport supplies and people from point A to be point B.

After struggling against the guards, and much to Ashley's dismay, Shepard suddenly came out of the group with a handgun. The guards instantly backed away as he sent a few rounds skywards.

"What the hell are you doing Shepard?" yelled Ashley.

Shepard ignored her.

Instead he walked around the perimeter of the guards and to the side of the stairs that led up to the transport.

"Come on down Kaiden," Shepard ordered.

"What? You wanna talk Sky-ball?" taunted Kaiden, "huh Shepard? Come on, let's talk Skyball."

Shepard jumped up to Kaiden and pulled him over the side.

Kaiden hit the ground with a loud thump before Shepard was back on top of him shoving the pistol right in his face.

"You wanna know what happens when you lie Kaiden?"

Shepard shot a round within five inches of Kaiden's head.

"You got nothing on me man! You're not going to shoot me!"

"Wanna bet?" Shepard said before placing a round so close to Kaiden's ear that it drew blood.

The two screamed at each other for several moments, each daring the other to try something.

Finally the confrontation was ended with a sharp hit to Kaiden's head.

Shepard stood from Kaiden, wiping the blood off of his hand and pistol.

As he walked by Ashley and the leader of the CID team, Major Kal Reeger he uttered one phrase.

"Get that pile of shit back to Fort Mercy."

To Ashley's surprise the guards saluted him, to which he didn't seem overall annoyed by, and followed his orders to the letter.

Soon she found herself, along with Reeger, Udina and Shepard as they patiently waited for Kaiden Alenko to properly retell the events of the previous night.

"We were all in the bunker," began Kaiden, "Wrex, Krios, and Jack were trying to get Zaeed and Taylor on their side. Trying to figure out what to do with Anderson… how to kill him. Zaeed was already pretty much convinced and Taylor hated Anderson's guts so he was going to come around."

"What about you?" asked Ashley.

"Me? Those guys didn't give two shits about me. I was the weak link in the group. I knew that if I tried to speak out against them, they could easily pin the whole thing on me. And with my beautiful past with Anderson, no jury would say otherwise."

"What happened next?" asked Udina.

Kaiden lit up a cigarette.

"In walked the bastard himself."

PANAMA CANAL  
>N7 TRAINING ZONE BRAVO<br>RALLY POINT X-RAY  
>NOVEMBER 1ST 2184<br>1345 HOURS

The bunker was filled with the noise of conversation and arguing with the storm outside adding to the effect. Wrex was trying to convince Taylor to see 'reason', Krios and Jack were filling Zaeed in on the plan and Kaiden was sitting by himself on the opposite side of the bunker, drying himself off.

It was when the flap that served as the door to the bunker flew open did everyone shut up. Standing in the doorway was none other than Anderson himself.

"Well, well, well, what do we got here?"

Jack looked over to Wrex and Thane, "I told you… he knows."

"_Wait_," interrupted Shepard, "_knows about what_?"

"_About the other operation_," Kaiden clarified.

"_What other operation_?"

"_The red sand. They were sending hundreds of pounds of it all over Alliance space using military supply lines. Harper was hiding it in crates of files. Hell, he would probably shipped it in a corpse if he had to. Anderson found out about a week ago. He was going to go to the colonel. Wrex and Thane must have decided to take him out of the equation before that could happen_."

Anderson took an aggressive step into the bunker.

"You must be the dumbest mother fuckers in the whole goddamn 'verse. You think you can ship that shit right under my nose?"

He was answered by the butt of a rifle from behind. Anderson fell to the ground, unmoving. Wrex, standing above the body, chuckled menacingly.

"Wrex! What the hell are you doing?" exclaimed Kaiden as he grabbed his weapon.

The other followed suit arming their rifles and pistols.

"Get his weapon," ordered Krios.

Zaeed was the first to jump towards the Sergeant. However just as he reached Anderson's body, Anderson sprung up and speared the corporal through the gut with a mean looking blade he had hand carved himself.

Zaeed fell clutching his stomach as he let out his final breath.

Wrex attempted to attack Anderson but the Staff Sergeant was much too fast.

He twirled around Wrex like he was water against rock, tucking his blade under Wrex's chin and aiming his pistol and the group of four recruits.

"Put it down Sarge," ordered Taylor.

"Fuck you. This isn't some anonymous drive by; you think you can kill a man face-to-face?"

"Put it down Taylor!" yelled Kaiden, "He'll fucking shoot you!"

But no one listened to him.

"I am your objective right?" Anderson asked the three conspirators.

"You fire, I slice, and then you're down to four. Make that three, you can't trust him," Anderson said pointing to Kaiden, "Maybe I take one or two of you before you get me. The odds are increasingly in your favor that at least two of you will walk out of here alive. Conversely, there is absolutely no way I should be able to walk out of this bunker."

Anderson took a look at each recruit. Just as the lightning flashed, Wrex fell to the ground, unharmed, and Anderson seemed to have simply disappeared.

"This is bullshit!" screamed Jack, "I'll do it!"

She charged forth with her rifle at the ready, passed the corpse of Zaeed and into the storm. She took a look around before charging into the open.

Above her, standing on top of the bunker, was Anderson, with two silenced predators armed and ready.

"So pretty," he uttered as he fired three times into Jack's back.

"And so dead," he finished as her body fell to the ground.

In the bunker the survivors all watched helplessly as Jack falls dead. Suddenly the roof erupts in gunfire as Anderson gives away his position by firing blindly into the bunker through the roof.

Startled, the recruits, except Kaiden, each open up, returning a salvo of gunfire into Anderson's last known location.

Thane waved for them all to cease fire. He then made the sign for grenade and pointed to the roof.

Kaiden watched as Wrex and Taylor primed their Phosphorus grenades and toss them.

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY MESS HALL  
>NOVEMBER 3rd 2184<br>0124 HOURS

Kaiden took another drag on his cigarette and stomped it out in the ashtray before him. He caught a glance from Shepard that told him the SpecTre agent wasn't buying it.

"What… you don't believe me?"

Shepard simply chuckled at the irony of Kaiden's question.

"Medical crate 8-4-6-9-7-2-3 in shipping D waiting transfer. You can see for yourself."

Ashley rose and presented Kaiden's data to MP officer Lang who immediately departed for the evidence.

"Harper and whoever his partner was must have been making millions together."

Udina shot a quick glance to Shepard before asking, "Where did the sand come from?"

"Fuck if I know," Kaiden said shrugging, "this is Panama. Throw a rock in any direction and you'll hit three cartels."

PANAMA CANAL  
>N7 TRAINING ZONE BRAVO<br>RALLY POINT X-RAY  
>NOVEMBER 1ST 2184<br>1445 HOURS

"_About an hour later, Krios and I found Taylor. He was dead_."

Kaiden bends over Taylor's motionless corpse and snags his dog tags. The sound of a muffled shot, followed by Thane's pained screams alerted Kaiden to Anderson's presence.

He saw him, his black hat, emerging from the bush with both weapons ready to fire. Kaiden instantly raised his own. It was a classic Mexican standoff.

"Put it down! Put it down, son!" Anderson ordered.

Kaiden held his ground, "I just want to go!"

"Understandable, now put the gun down!"

"Look," Kaiden said with his will beginning to falter, "I never meant to hurt anybody!"

"Good," responded Anderson, "Let's keep it that way. Now you surrender and I take you in. I know it sounds like a shitty deal, but you get to live."

Kaiden thought about before shaking his head.

"How about I go my way, and you go yours?"

"Ain't going to happen. You either surrender or we die where we stand. What's it going to be?"

That was when Kaiden saw Wrex rise from the bushes and take aim on Anderson. Before Kaiden could warn him, Wrex fired two three round bursts, hitting Anderson squarely in the chest.

As Kaiden watch Anderson fall, he raised his own weapon and returned fire on Wrex who fell in the distance.

"_I knew if the Sarge died they'd blame me. That's why I took Taylor's dog tags_."

Kaiden ran over to his black hat who was bleeding terribly. Anderson looked up at Kaiden as he exhaled his dying breath. Kaiden watched at the Sarge's eyes glaze over and his body go motionless.

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY MESS HALL  
>NOVEMBER 3rd 2184<br>0124 HOURS

"Wrex didn't die after all… he came after us with a vengeance. You know the rest," Kaiden finished.

Ashley spotted Lang approaching with the box Kaiden had mentioned earlier.

"How did you get Krios to go along with you switching the tags?" she asked as she approached Lang.

"Easy. I just gave him a choice. Either go along or I drop the dime on the drug scam."

"What about the bodies?" asked Shepard.

"The hurricane almost lifted me off the ground… but they're out there. Somewhere…"

Lang finishes his search as he removes a false bottom in the crate. Sure enough, the bottom is packed to the brim with red sand.

"It's there," reported Ashley, "just like you said."

Major Reeger approached Kaiden, "So you'll testify to all this?"

Kaiden nodded his head.

"I don't think you're getting any deals," stated Ashley.

Kaiden made eye contact with her, "I don't want any deals…"

Lang and Verner approached Kaiden and began to lead him out of the mess hall but not before Kaiden stopped before Shepard.

"We should have died out there with the others… Did you get what you wanted?"

Shepard shook his head and drifting his eyes to the floor, "Not even close…"

A look of confusion was ever so present of Kaiden's face for the briefest of seconds before it disappeared completely and the young private continued to walk from the room.

As the three remaining personnel watched Kaiden be removed from the room, Udina sighed and checked his watch. He gave Shepard a disturbing glance before heading to his office.

Shepard sat there for a moment perplexed, as if he was about to do something he really didn't want to. Ashley noticed this but he held up his hand, preemptively silencing her before following Colonel Udina to his office.

He knocked once on Udina's door.

"Come," replied a voice on the other side.

Shepard opened the door, "Permission to come in?"

Udina chuckled and retrieved two glasses and a bottle of whiskey from his desk.

"There's just one thing I wanted to ask you," Shepard said as he entered.

Shepard was about to sit down when his comm began to ring.

"This is Shepard… okay… yes, thank you," he said to an unknown person on the other line.

Shepard sat down.

"The kid said that Anderson was going to wait until the end of the week to tell the colonel. Now why would he wait to tell you? That doesn't sound like the Anderson we knew."

Udina watched Shepard take a swig of his whiskey.

"Do you think the kid was lying?" Udina asked.

Shepard shuddered from the drink, "No, I don't."

His eyes rose to meet Udina's.

"I think you are," Shepard added.

"What?" Udina chocked out as he nearly spills his drink.

"I do… I think you're lying. I think that Anderson came to you and…"

"And?"

"And I think you told Wrex and Krios to kill him."

Udina laughed loudly.

"What? Are you serious right now?" Udina managed to utter in between his laughs, "what did I do, go and poison Krios?"

Shepard's face got serious, "Who said anything about poisoned?"

Udina was silent for a moment before laughing once again.

"What?"

"I just found out. The hospital found out three minutes ago I was just on the phone with a pathologist."

"He was puking up blood… all over the hospital," said Udina as he continued to laugh, "I'm mean, a gunshot and child birth didn't seem to fit so I took a wild-ass fucking guess."

Shepard took a swig from his whiskey and began to laugh along with Udina.

"Was that really the pathologist?"

"No," Shepard said as he paused to catch his breath before resuming his laughing, "that was my message service!"

"Even if it was, does that prove anything?"

"Yeah," Shepard suddenly got serious. His face went from laughing uncontrollably to instant seriousness in less time it takes for a cell to divide, "But you're forgetting I don't have to."

"Have to what?"

"I don't have to prove anything because… because it's not my job," Shepard stated. Although his face was serious his tone was not. His tone suggested that he was horsing around with Udina.

"I just- I just have to get you to the real guys," Shepard said as he rose to leave.

Just before he reached the door Udina stopped him with the words Shepard was hoping not to have to hear. The ones that would completely damn his friend if Shepard ever heard them uttered.

"One third," Udina said with a flat face.

Shepard stopped and turned around leaning up against the wall.

"Come on, John. You've never met a bribe you didn't like."

"Oh I see… You called me, so that just in case I stumbled upon something, you could buy me off."

"I'd be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind," Udina admitted.

Shepard grunted, "Hmm…"

"It's like I said, they were never going to make me a general anyway. This is about the quality of life."

Udina rose from his desk and looked Shepard from top to bottom.

"Jesus John, look at yourself. You've had a hell of a run with bad luck. Bounced out of the military, hanging by a thread in the SpecTres… at this rate you'll become a fucking process server."

Udina took a swig from his whiskey and sat back down.

"When you lose enough times what you become is a loser. Why don't you cut yourself a break for Christ sakes? 40 percent," Udina offered, "at least once I'm up and running again."

"Up and running again?" asked Shepard.

"This is just a hiccup… I can get another three or four months out of this gimmick before they close this place down."

Shepard's electric baby blue eyes met Udina's dark brown fiery ones. Each man held their gaze, not faltering in the slightest.

Finally it was Shepard who backed away, "Gee Donald…"

Shepard made a clicking sound with his tongue.

"I guess I'll have to think about that."

Shepard was about to leave when he heard the unmistakable sound of Udina priming a handgun.

BANG – BANG – BANG

The gunshots were followed by the sound of a body hit the floor.

**A/N: **

**This is it. The second to last chapter of this story is finished and all that remains is the grand finally. Trust me, you won't see this coming! Or will you (twirls evil moustache and fixes evil monocle) Ha Ha HA!  
>So any questions go ahead and ask, it's not like I'm going to knee cap you or anything…<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**SECTION 8**

_Real quick Author's note here, I just found out the other day that Udina is the Cannon Human Councilor to the Council. This completely contradicts my every play through because I never pick Udina for the Council. Food for thought.  
>Here's the last chapter for the story not including an Epilogue that will set the stage for a sequel which will set up the stage for a trilogy. Enjoy brochachos!<em>

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

PANAMA, SOUTH AMERICA  
>N7 TRAINING FACILITY<br>FORT MERCY  
>NOVEMBER 3rd 2184<br>0138 HOURS

The gun shook visibly as thin smoke began to exit the barrel. The body on the ground already had a large pool of red blood forming around it as the man laid face down, his eyes wide in surprise.

Shepard looked over his shoulder to see Ashley, standing in the doorway with the smoking gun in her hands.

"I… I swear I… He would have… I didn't want…" she tried to say as the gun began to lower.

Shepard looked back over to Udina who was dead as a doorknob. The former Colonel was dead. It seems as if his greed finally caught up to him.

Shepard was sad to see his friend lying in a pool of his own blood even though he deserved it. In a galaxy such as this rarely to people get what they deserve. Udina, Harper, and Shepard all trained under Anderson ten years ago and their friendship was what helped them make it through the toughest six months of their entire lives.

Now, one was dead, one was going to prison for the rest of his life, and one was stuck dealing with the consequences. Life's a bitch like that.

Shepard shook his head and turned to Ashley, leading her from the room. He could feel her body shuttering ever so slightly.

He had read her file. Part of the 212 ground garrison on Eden Prime and was the sole survivor of her unit. Later she joined the 409 Infantry in the later retaking of the colony after it was seized by the Geth. Her actions during the battle caught the attention of the N7s and she joined soon after.

Shepard knew that Ashley was no stranger to death. She would have to have gotten used to it after the cluster fuck that was Eden Prime or she would have gone mad. But Shepard could tell this was the first time she had to shoot a friend, or a superior, or at the very least someone she saw on a daily basis.

Understandably she was quite shaken up.

The MPs arrived moments later. Luckily the CID was still around to take her statement so she would be able to avoid sitting in a cell.

Shepard watched with interest as Ashley gave her statement. He knew that she would be fine, he made sure of it. Hell the testimony of a SpecTre, even one such as Shepard, goes a long way. Not to take all the credit, Shepard had mentioned that if it wasn't for Ashley he would be dead right now. In reality it was the truth…

Ashley sat in the driver's seat of her car as the agents questioned her. With the door ajar and the keys in the hands of the CID investigaotrs, they made sure that Ashley would not be able to escape even if she wanted to.

"And what happened next Lieutenant Williams?" asked one of the agents.

"I uh… saw the gun and then… proceeded to fire."

"How many rounds did you fire Lieutenant?"

"Three maybe four shots…"

"Thank you Lieutenant, that'll be all for now."

The CID agents jotted down Ashley's words and walked away. Shepard walked up to her once the agents were gone. He hands her a cup of coffee and sips on his own.

"Thanks…"

Shepard nods, "What now?"

"Now?" Ashley chuckles, "Now I'm going to go home and get drunk… try to forget this whole mess…"

Shepard reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a tiny business card.

"In that case, here you go."

He hands it to her. She looks at it and smiles.

"Your phone number?"

"Yeah I thought maybe later I could slip by and we could do the old… you know."

Shepard sarcastic smile forces Ashley to chuckle.

"Naw," he continued, "just in case you need me to testify about the shooting."

Shepard could see that Ashley was still visibly shaken.

"Don't worry," he assured, "they'll clear you on that."

Ashley could hear the confidence and authority in his voice. It was… comforting.

"But he was your friend?"

"Yeah but he was a lot of other things too," Shepard said taking a sip of his coffee once more, "Besides, my friends don't betray their people like that."

The two share a moment of silence. It isn't awkward but simply filled with understanding.

Not for the first time Ashley smiled, thinking about her earlier conversation with Shepard on who's capable of murder. She'd never admit that Shepard was right to his face, his ego was already high enough, but she had come to understand the fact that beneath those baby blue eyes there was a level of intelligence beyond what she had thought of.

"Yep," Shepard said as he closed the door to her car.

"Tuesday?"

"Huh?" Shepard asked

"Tuesday, pick me up at seven?"

Shepard felt a smile on his face forming that he couldn't suppress.

"Tuesday at seven," repeated Shepard accepting Ashley's proposal.

He patted her arm, "You're one of the good one Williams, and I don't want you to worry about what happened up there. All we got to do is tell the story right."

Shepard gave her arm a pat goodbye and walked over to his truck that was parked right where he had left it hours ago.

Ashley watched him leave as he calmly walked through the rain.

But then suddenly she got that feeling. It was similar to what a person felt like upside down underwater, a feeling that you are in way over your head.

Shepard's last words to her suddenly began to echo in her head.

"…All we got to do is tell the story right…"

She looked over at his truck as it began to pull out of the base. She didn't even register turning her car on and begin to follow him. Her mind was filled with that sentence. She seemed to be entranced by it.

"…All we got to do is tell the story right…"

As she pulled up to the right shoulder she saw Shepard pull up to the left. He looked over at her and waved and then turned towards Panama City.

If this were a movie, scenes would flash before her eyes, uncovering the meaning behind that sentence.

But her life wasn't a movie. In her head she began to piece together the puzzle.

_Thane was understandably confused, "I don't know what you're talking about."_

"_What I'm talking about is that we can all walk out of here as heroes."_

_Kaiden leaned in closer to Thane._

"_All we got to do is get rid of Wrex and Jack. If we can get everyone else to play along, then we can be the men who took down our Sergeant's killers."_

_Thane was shocked at the gall Kaiden had._

"_**All we got to do**__," continued Kaiden, "__**is tell the story right**__."_

Ashley felt the car take a left instead of a right as she subconsciously followed Shepard.

She followed him until they came up to a suburb on the outskirts of the city. Shepard had pulled his truck over to the side of the road and seemed to be waving his hand at somebody to come over.

Ashley watched as a figure emerged from the bushes and dart over to the passenger's side of the truck. Just as the figure hopped in it unknowingly looked over at Ashley. Ashley's eyes widened when she saw who it was.

It was none other than Kaiden Alenko.

She could see through the rain covered rear window as Shepard and Kaiden exchanged greetings and Shepard pitch the truck forward.

Fifteen minutes passed until they finally came to Panama City. It wasn't another ten until Shepard parked his truck and before he and Kaiden got out and began walking.

Ashley got out as well as she followed them down the lonely street. She watched them take a right onto another, more illuminated one, and kept her distance. The last thing she needed right now was to get discovered before she could finally figure out what the real truth was.

She ran up as soon as Shepard and Kaiden disappeared from view. She planted her back to a wall and peeked around.

On the other street, a parade was in full bloom. Ashley had no idea what it was for but the locals seemed to have dressed themselves up as skeletons, ghouls and other deathly get ups. The walls of the nearby buildings were covered in lights and Latin music was blasting through the houses. To Ashley it seemed to be a mix of Christmas, Halloween, and the Fourth of July.

She shook her head from her thoughts and scanned the crowd finally making out Shepard and Alenko.

She scoffed when she saw Shepard dancing with a couple women. She faintly recognized the dance as the samba but it didn't matter to her.

_Krios' head perked up a glanced over to Ashley and Shepard who had found himself a seat that was reserved for guests._

"_I've seen you around the base before," he said pointing to Ashley, "But you… are you… are you in the N7s, or…"_

"_Navy, yeah we're doing a check on the weather, making sure there's no danger to the Florida coast line."_

"_No I've seen you before. On the extranet. __**You're that SpecTre agent with friends in low places**__."_

She exited from her concealed cover and began making her way through the crowd. A thousand and one scenarios were flashing through her head.

"_You tried to pin three stone cold murders on Taylor."_

_Thane looked over to Shepard._

"_Hey, __**why don't you ask him about all the murders he's covered up for his drug dealer**__?"_

_Thane continued as Shepard stared down at him like a Vulture over a dead piece of meat._

"_Did it ever weigh on your conscience, or do you just not think about it?"_

She continued through the crowd avoiding the locals as they danced and partied around her.

_Udina continued as Shepard listened with interest._

"_Anderson trained some of these guys. __**He hated them for they did and they hated him**__. That could be what this is about."_

"_Who knows about this?" Shepard asked._

"_How the hell do I know… __**They're ghosts right? They're dead**__. All of this could just be some story… But the note that kid wrote__**… it had an eight on it…**__"_

Ashley watched as Shepard finished his dance and slap up Kaiden in victory. The two men ran into another couple girls who offered them drinks to which the two men were not hesitant to accept.

_Shepard reached the transport terminal and lit up a cigarette, "If someone had mentioned Santa Claus, you'd be all like, you can't leave now Shepard we haven't explored the flying reindeer angle."_

"_You fucking coward!"_

"_You just stop right there! I was there alright! I was tortured by that guy ten years ago __**and I wanted him dead**__ just as bad. Now you want me to feel bad for the guy that actually did it, I don't think so sister!"_

The two men finished their drinks and continued on their way.

"_Put it down Taylor!" yelled Kaiden, "He'll fucking shoot you!"_

_But no one listened to him._

"_**I am your objective right**__?" Anderson asked the three conspirators._

"_You fire, I slice, and then you're down to four. Make that three, __**you can't trust him**__," Anderson said pointing to Kaiden, "Maybe I take one or two of you before you get me. The odds are increasingly in your favor that at least two of you will walk out of here alive. Conversely, there is absolutely no way I should be able to walk out of this bunker."_

In her mind she could visualize Anderson reporting to the popped smoke with Shepard suddenly coming out of the bushes and stabbing him in the heart.

It all made perfect sense. Everything… he was behind everything… the whole damned thing was planned from the beginning.

Suffice to say Ashley was a tad angry and humilitated.

Suddenly the two men made a b-line for a nearby building. Again, once they were out of view, Ashley ran over. Looking up she could see an ornament hanging above the door. It was that of a giant 8 ball.

For some reason, Ashley felt as if all the answers were in this building.

Cautiously she entered.

The main lobby was small and pathetic. There was probably only enough room for three grown men to stand side by side and with difficulty. On one side was a stairway leading up to the upper floors. Next to it was a hallway leading to another set of stairs that lead down into some unknown area of the building.

As Ashley entered she was startled to see an old man sitting on the stairs. She thought for sure that she was busted and any second Shepard and Kaiden would arrive and… she tried not to think about it.

But when the old man turned his head, Ashley could see his eyes were grey and dead. He was blind. In his hand was an old fashioned walking stick.

Ashley put her back to the wall and tried to make as little sound as possible.

She passed the old man without incident and headed for the stairs leading down. For all she knew this was a one way passage to hell itself.

She slowly descended the stair and finally reached the bottom. Upon reaching the bottom she was met with a catacomb of hallways each illuminated by a single lamp hanging from the singling. Shepard and Kaiden were nowhere to be found.

She was just about to give up when suddenly she noticed, out of the corner of her eye, a small etching on the wall next to the hallway that led right.

Upon closer examination, Ashley could make out an upright symbol for infinity. Or as a normal person would say: an eight.

Ashley silently drew her predator and made her way down the hallway. After several minutes of twists and turns she finally came to the end.

She could already hear voices and laughter.

Ashley crouched down and began to make her way inside of what looked to be a large room separated in two by two short walls of stone.

Crouching below the short wall she put her back to the one next to the sound of the voices.

As she rounded the corner she could see Shepard seated at a table with his back to her and Kaiden standing nearby changing his shirt. Another man, dressed in a white shirt, left the room for another in the back that Ashley could make out to be a kitchen, which she could tell had two others in it.

"Another beer, please?" she heard Shepard ask to the people in the kitchen.

Ashley primed her pistol which was muffled by the sound of the blaring radio.

Suddenly that anger she felt when she was talking to Thane before he died came surging back. Ashley suddenly felt her legs begin moving and the pistol in her hand rise up, pointed squarely at Shepard's back.

When she arrived within five meters away from Shepard she could see that Kaiden noticed her due to the "oh shit" expression he held on his face.

"Williams," Shepard greeted without turning around.

"If you don't like the music, just say so," he finished.

Ashley swung the gun over to Kaiden, "Don't move. Put your hands on the table."

Ashley turned the pistol back over to Shepard who had finally turned around.

"Who are they?" asked Ashley pointing to the kitchen.

"They are my colleagues," Shepard answered, "and they are discussing breakfast recipes."

Ashley felt her chest heave with anger.

"You knew about the red sand?"

"Yes I did."

"You knew about Harper?"

Shepard nodded. Ashley was struck in the heart by that one for obvious reasons.

"You knew about Udina?"

"No," Shepard denied.

"You knew about them because they work for you… because you're Section 8."

Shepard looked as if he was going to deny it but Ashley never gave him the chance.

"You planned all this… and you killed Anderson. Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow your fucking head off."

Ashley felt her finger quiver on the trigger. She just couldn't stop looking into his eyes and not seeing deceit and lies. Her finger tense as he continued to look at her, as if he was on terms with what she knew she had to do.

"John?"

A voice behind Ashley made her spin around.

Almost instantly the gun dropped from her hand as she saw the owner.

It was a very much alive David Anderson.

"Why did this woman have a weapon pointed at your head?" Anderson asked.

Shepard took a swig of his beer, "This is Lieutenant Williams and she has had a _**long**_ day."

"Ah, I think it might have been something you said," Anderson said as he walked passed a stunned Ashley.

"She thinks I killed you," answered Shepard.

Anderson simply laughed, "Ha, ha, ha… he didn't."

"I thought you hated each other?" Ashley quickly asked.

"Well," began Anderson, "I'm not particularly fond of him and he is sort of an ass. But what can you do?"

"Common, cut me some slack," defended Shepard.

"Slack?" Anderson looked over at Kaiden who had seated himself at the table next to Anderson and Shepard, "did he say slack?"

Kaiden nodded, "I believe he did Captain."

Anderson looked over at Ashley, "Lieutenant, sit its safe," he turned back over to Shepard," you want to talk about slack?"

Shepard began to chuckle.

"You take a simple 'rattle the cages' of a find out who is working for who operation and then there's corpses flying around like it raining goddamn fish."

"Don't be mad because I rescued your ass," said Shepard.

"Rescue my ass?" Anderson turned back over to Kaiden, "Did he say rescue my ass?"

Kaiden finished chewing whatever was in his mouth, "Don't get me involved in this."

Shepard continued as Ashley slowly made her way over stuck in a state of shock and confusion, "You stumble on a drug operation in the middle of 10,000 heavily armed men and you didn't have to be pulled out?"

"Oh pulled out, see that's different. I was going to retire early anyway."

Kaiden laughed.

"You found out about the red sand? And told Udina?" asked Ashley speaking for the first time since Anderson arrived.

"Yeah, and he did nothing," replied Anderson.

"Except he ordered Wrex and Krios to kill you," added Shepard.

"And you figured they were going to do it in the jungle?" asked Ashley again.

Anderson nodded his head, "Yup, and that's why I called this genius," he said pointing to Shepard.

"Breakfast is ready!"

Three more people came from the kitchen. Ashley recognized all three. Zaeed Massani, Jacob Taylor, and Jacqueline Doe… all three alive and well.

"What do you call this?" asked Kaiden

"It's called Raul's daughters," answered Taylor, "It's a family recipe."

"Oww," exclaimed Anderson, "this might eat me!"

The group save Ashley laughed.

Taylor noticed Ashley and did a weak salute, "Lieutenant," he greeted.

"You're Jacob Taylor," she stated.

"That's right."

Ashley turned over to Jack who put down three more plates.

"And you're Jack?"

"Yes ma'am," Jack said with a surprising amount of civility as she brushed her long flowing brown hair from her face.

"Zaeed Massani?"

Zaeed looked over at her as he lit up a cigar, "That's right doll, pleasure to finally meet you. I swear this chap 'ere has done nothing but talk about you since he arrived."

Ashley looked at each of Section Eight's members.

"And none of you all exist… because you're dead?"

Anderson cleared his throat, "Actually you could refer to it as a bureaucratic absence of presence. We're here! But at the same time we're not here."

Anderson pointed to Shepard with his fork.

"Now him on the other hand, would be cold dead in the ground if you hadn't saved his ass, I'm mean he would actually be dead."

"You are on it today!" Shepard said aloud as the group laughed.

Anderson looked over to Kaiden, "What are you laughing at?"

"Oh, just the idea that you just transferred to his unit," Kaiden responded.

"No, I just transferred to Arlington cemetery," retorted Anderson.

"Keep talking shit and you're liable to make roll call," half threatened Shepard.

As the group laughed again Ashley was still trying to wrap her head around things. But there was one fact she knew more than anything.

"So you're all… Section Eight," she stated with confidence.

Shepard looked impressed, "I told you she was smart."

"No," corrected Anderson, "I think the word you used was… hot!"

Shepard chuckled at the much deserved retort from Anderson, before the Captain looked over at Ashley.

"Yes ma'am," Anderson clarified, "We're officially Section Eight."

"What about the story about you guys being renegades, drug dealers, and stuff?"

"Well it's more like ragamuffins," mumbled Taylor.

"It's been our unit's cover story since its formation," answered Kaiden.

"And it's a story that scares the frijoles out of the dealers and mercs out in the 'verse," added Jack.

Ashley looked around at the members who continued to eat their food.

"So now that I know all this stuff, what happens now? I get a needle in my arm and wake up tomorrow with no memory?" Ashley asked.

She looks over at Shepard who hasn't taken his eyes off her.

"Actually," Anderson began, "we thought you handled yourself quite well in this situation," he said taking another bite of his food, "we were going to offer you a job."

The other members of Section 8 began conversing amongst themselves. Zaeed, Jack, and Taylor were busy discussing the events of the carnival, Anderson and Kaiden were talking about the new L4 coming out and whether or not Kaiden would upgrade, etc…

Shepard continued to stare at Ashley as the young Lieutenant debated within herself.

Finally her eyes looked up to meet his.

"So?" Shepard asked expectantly, "What are you going to do?"

Ashley flashed him a smile.

"I think I'll take a beer."

Shepard returned the smile and held his hand out, "A beer for the lovely Lieutenant please."

Zaeed leaned over and handed him one, "Ere you go Colonel."

Ashley titled her head back, "Colonel? You?"

Shepard smiled.

"Welcome to Section Eight."

**A/N:  
>There it is, Part One of my three part story Arc is done and I hoped you enjoyed it.<br>Up next is the Epilogue that will tie into Part Two  
>Thanks for stopping by everyone!<strong>


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